Unconditionally and Irrevocably

by Chandlure Trainez

Things I know: 1. Edward is a vampire- a gifted one who can read minds (just not mine). 2. He craves my blood and being close to me is achingly difficult for him. 3. He is scared of something (himself?) and because of that, he has to be in control. 4. I might have to erase his memories of magic to keep him safe. 5. If this continues, I can see myself falling in love with him. AU

11. A Night at the Cullen Mansion

TW—Multiple instances of descriptive panic attacks

Unconditionally and Irrevocably

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A Night at the Cullen Mansion

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Twenty minutes later found me seated at the table in the living room of the Cullen Mansion. Mrs. Cullen kindly gave me a blanket to cover my body and had taken my soiled clothes to wash them. I wore the blanket like a towel to allow Dr. Cullen full access to my injury.

He was carefully examining my shoulder, gently poking and prodding the area. It was swollen and a large mottled bruise covered the entirety of it. "Dislocated shoulder," he confirmed a moment later.

Score! No gym for a while. I must not have kept my joy off my face because Dr. Cullen was chuckling as he shook his head.

"Yes, no sports for at least six weeks," he emphasized.

I grinned and shrugged. So I had to walk around the track, that was something I could do.

"Let's get this over with. The longer we wait, the more it'll hurt." Dr. Cullen advised.

I nodded in agreement, pushing my bangs from my eyes and letting out a slow breath. I knew from experience that once the muscles seized, the pain would get much worse. The sooner you dealt with it, the better. I have an uncle who doesn't even bother to go to the ER anymore for dislocated shoulders—I've even helped him a few times to put it back in, but I'd never do it to myself—the entire process made me squeamish.

However, knowing that it would be better to do it as quickly as possible, and bringing myself to let him do it were two very different things.

I wished Edward were here; he'd make me feel less nervous. Or at least, he'd make me feel so nervous about being around him I'd forget about my arm completely.

As it was, Edward and Emmett weren't home yet. Whether that was because Emmett was struggling to come back to his senses or because Edward was chasing him through the entire western United States to kill him, was anyone's guess.

I looked up and smiled at Alice. She sat crossed-legged on the table beside me with her eyes closed and her lips, silently and impossibly quick, moving in some unknown conversation. Several times I watched as her eyes fluttered and she would frown or shake her head. My best guess was that she was trying to make heads and tails of what she was seeing.

Alice suddenly reached down and took my hand, squeezing it in what she likely thought was a gentle way. It wasn't, but I give her props for not breaking any bones. "Squeeze my hand as hard as you want, you won't hurt me."

"It's not you I am worried about hurting," I joked, twining my fingers through hers just as Dr. Cullen placed his cool hands on my arm, ready to put my arm back in place.

"Why don't you tell me what happened, Bella? It'll help keep your mind off of what I am doing." He looked up into my face, his eyes intense, and I had to force myself to look away, the heat in my cheeks rising. If I looked into his eyes, he would have compelled me and I needed to keep my head on straight.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I imagined the series of events that lead me to be sitting in the Cullen Mansion. "I was riding my broom. It's better to go at night when muggles can't see you — less chance of exposure. I had a long day and riding my broom helps clear my head. I flew into the forest and thought I was heading toward Jake's house in La Push, but I must've gotten turned around, what with the new moon out."

I sighed heavily and shook my bangs from my eyes."After about fifteen minutes of riding, I saw an orange light in the middle of the forest and went towards it because I was curi— OW !"

The window behind me exploded as the sound of several other things spontaneously shattering resonated through the house. I ripped my hand from Alice's and grabbed at my injured shoulder, sucking in a pained breath. No matter how much I squeezed my eyes shut, I couldn't stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. Fuck, that hurt.

"Thank you, Dr. Cullen," I said through gritted teeth. My shoulder throbbed painfully under my hand, and I took several breaths to calm myself before opening my eyes.

"I think I'm going to throw up," I vaguely heard Jasper mutter as he hurried from the house, an odd crunching sound following his footsteps as he stepped out the front door.

"I'm so sorry, Jasper!" I called through gasping breaths as I tried to push my body past the shock of the pain. That had hurt much more than I expected it would.

"What on Earth happened in here‽" Mrs. Cullen exclaimed as she rushed in from the mudroom, causing me to focus more on my surroundings.

"Bella blew up the windows and glass shelving," Alice said as she jumped off the table and landed neatly on her feet. I felt a stab of annoyance. If I tried that, I would have likely ended up with a broken nose and a face full of broken glass. "Don't worry, it's no more damage than Emmett does when he slams the front door."

She reached down, gently wiped the tears falling from my eyes and pulled me into a quick hug before straightening up and making her way to the front door, the same crunching sound following her out. "I'll be back, I just want to make sure Jazz is okay."

My eyes widened as I finally took in the shattered glass that covered practically every object in the living room while I followed her movements. I couldn't even remember the last time I had done this much damage. "I—I can fix everything," I whispered, shakily wiping my cheeks with the side of my hand as tears continued to fall.

"Don't worry about that right now," Mrs. Cullen chastised me softly. She kneeled in front of me, glass crunching under her knees, and fussed with the blanket before pushing my hair from my face. "Are you okay, Sweetheart?"

It was then that I realized how badly I was shaking. "Y-yeah, I'm fine," I brushed off her worry, unable to look away from the utter chaos that had erupted around me. They're going to think I am such a freak. They'll never want me near their son again.

Blood pounded in my ears. My heart thudded in my chest. My hands continued to shake, no matter how hard I clenched them in my lap. My vision blurred and the sounds around me went in and out as if I were listening to a long broken radio.

I pulled my knees to my chest and hid my face in them, ignoring the twinge of protest my shoulder gave. Breathing was hard. So hard. It was as if I had run a marathon.

I choked back a sob, my chest growing tight as bile rose in my throat.

"Jasper! " Someone called from my left before I felt chilly hands lightly touching my face, trying to get me to look at their owner. "Jasper, we need you! "

"Bella, it's Carlisle. It's okay. You're safe here," Dr. Cullen whispered into my ear. "You're going to be okay."

I shook my head and wrapped my arms tightly around my knees, my fingernails digging into my skin.

"I've got this, " I vaguely heard the musical voice of Alice say from in front of me. I felt her as she resumed her seat on the table beside me.

"So, do you want to hear a hilarious story about Edward?"

"Alice, I don't think now is the time — "

I gasped out a sob and nodded my head, coughing into my knees. "Please," I begged.

"So, we had just moved to Vermont for a small stretch back in the seventies. Anyway, we had just gotten back our first quarter report cards for eighth grade. Edward had somehowfailed and decided that rather than just own up to the fact that he barely did any of the work, he would make a fake report card.

"This continued for the rest of the year—he did it every single quarter. However, this failed when they mailed home the end-of-year report cards rather than giving them to us in an envelope. We raced home, but Esme got to them first. She was so upset." Alice giggled.

"Oh, no!" I coughed out a laugh. It was much easier to breathe now, I could feel my body begin to unwind from its coil.

"But it wasn't at Edward!"

"What‽" I turned my head to her and gave her a look of bemusement through my drying tears.

"She was upset at the school for the error that they made !" Alice squealed, clapping her hands together.

"What happened next?" I asked softly. Hearing this was making me feel a bit better. I was coming back to myself.

"The teacher retired that year and had already thrown out all of his work, or rather, lack thereof, so they had to take Esme's 'proof'—Edward's forged documents and 'correct the mistake'!"

I giggled and shook my head. I guess even Edward went through an 'I refuse to do any work' stage. It's nice to know that they aren't as perfect as they seem.

"Edward was grounded for the entire summer—Esme took away his entire music collection," Alice said through squeals of laughter.

"He never pulled that again," Mrs. Cullen said with a warm smile as she rolled her eyes.

"Do you have any funny stories, Bella?" Alice asked earnestly, leaning her elbows on her knees and bending forward to show that she was paying attention to me.

"I'm going to go make you some tea, Dear." Mrs. Cullen said softly as she went into the kitchen. Dr. Cullen followed close behind her, leaving just me and Alice in the room.

I took a shaky breath and thought for a moment. "Uh, yeah." I wiped my cheeks with my wrist and sat back in the chair. "There was a time in eighth grade when I was sitting with my friends in the dining hall for lunch, and we overheard the girls at the next table talking about what they had done with their boyfriends over the weekend, and it got pretty detailed."

"As it tends to," Alice commented dryly. "Not that anyone wants to hear the sexcapades of thirteen-year-olds," she muttered to herself with a shudder of disgust.

"Or anyone, for that matter," I said with a sigh. "Anyway, they were talking about giving their boyfriends blowjobs and I literally had no idea what they were talking about, so I turned to my friend, and she didn't either. We were both clueless, but we wanted to know because, why did those girls get to know and we didn't?"

"You didn't know what a blowjob is‽" Alice exclaimed with wide eyes.

I shook my head, "Not at that point. I pretty much just lived inside my books, and I hadn't discovered fanfiction yet. Anyway, we had no idea what a blowjob was, so we turned to our other friend who is a boy. He was blushing the brightest shade of red I had ever seen—I swear, lobsters are less red than he was!"

"So we were looking at him and were like 'Okay, this boy knows something' and we got real close to him and we asked, ' Mason, what's a blowjob? ' He got a bit redder, but said nothing, so with huge grins we say, ' What's a blowjob, Mason? ', but he just shook his head and refused to tell us.

"Obviously, he wasn't giving it up, so we started trying to piece it together ourselves. We knew when we were on the right track because he sank lower and lower onto the bench.

"My friend goes, ' Well, I know it has to do with a guy's — ' and she stopped, looked around to make sure no one was listening and then whispered, ' ding-a-ling .' because at twelve and thirteen we were at the height of sophistication."

Alice snorted. If anyone else had done it, it would have been an undignified thing, but somehow, she made even snorting graceful.

"So, of course, we look back at Mason—the only boy we knew personally—and he had pretty much just pulled out his books and was refusing to look at us. We knew he wasn't really reading anything because his expression was one of absolute mortification. I honestly think he was trying to make himself disappear."

"Which he could have done, right?"

I shook my head. "Not at that age unless he had an invisibility cloak." I grinned wickedly, "which he didn't."

"So, we took his reaction of confirmation that, yes, it involves the penis, and we continued with our little investigation. So me, I say, " Ok. it has to do with a guy's... sausage, but why is it called a blowjob? Do you really just blow on it? Does that feel good or something? "

"Oh my God, Bella. You can't be serious!" Alice hid her face in her knees, laughing hysterically. "That is the most adorably innocent thing I've ever heard."

"I was thirteen! Give me a break." But I was squealing with laughter beside her. At this point, my cheeks were hurting from laughing so much. "We are there literally debating it when we overhear one of the girls saying she gave three guys a blowjob over the weekend.

"And I just kept thinking to myself, 'When I blow on really hot food, my cheeks hurt so bad. I couldn't imagine how bad her cheeks hurt after that. '"

"Of course you did," Alice squealed, tipping over, off the table and onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked, taking several deep breaths to compose myself.

"Are my floors okay?" Esme called from the kitchen.

"The floors and I are fine," Alice called, leaning back on her hands and grinning widely. "Please tell me there's more."

"Not much, I had so many questions, and Mason wasn't answering me. So I was just like ' I don't think I could put any boy things near my face .'

"And my friend was like, ' Right? That is so gross, they pee from there! ', but pretty much the topic was dropped until I got home and asked my mother some questions."

"Oh, no," Alice said. "Was it bad?"

"That depends entirely how bad you think a talk that ends with ' Blowjobs are a great workaround to penetrative sex ' might be."

"Renee told you that‽"

"Yep, that's just one example of her A+ parenting." I grinned at her, my face dropping when I caught sight of the broken glass on the floor around us. "Oh, Merlin. I am so sorry." The room looked like it was covered in millions of pieces of glass; every single surface in the room sparkled. "I didn't mean to make anything explode. It just happens sometimes when I am overwhelmed. My magic has a mind of its own."

"We understand," Mrs. Cullen said, peeking her head out the kitchen entrance. "This family has had its fair share of accidents."

Why were they being so nice to me? My thanks for them trying to help me with my injury was to blow up their beautiful home.

I took a deep breath and nodded, "Thank you."

"Let Carlisle finish fixing you up and I'll go get you the tea and a snack." She gave me another warm smile and disappeared back into the kitchen. Alice followed her in, no doubt to talk about what just happened. I winced as the sound of crunching glass followed them.

Dr. Cullen was back at the table and had brushed my hair to the side. Slowly, he slipped a royal blue sling over my head. "Oh, Dr. Cullen, no." I stared down at the sling in horror, "Is this punishment for blowing up the windows? I promise I can fix them."

"You only need to wear it for a few days," Dr. Cullen chuckled with a shake of his head. He reached over into his bag and rifled through it for a moment before pulling out a small bottle of Tylenol.

"I don't need a sling," I grumbled, taking the Tylenol he handed me and popping them into my mouth, swallowing them dry. "Now that it is back in I can just heal it with magic."

"Are you any good at healing with magic?" Dr. Cullen asked with a raise of an eyebrow. "I've seen your medical record, Bella." he teased.

I huffed. He got me. I was pretty bad at healing magic. I could heal cuts and some burns and that was about it. You'd think someone as accident prone as me would be better at it, but nope. It was a cross I must bear—clumsy and useless at healing spells.

Dr. Cullen closed his medical bag and patted me on the shoulder, "I better call your father before he worries that something happened to you." He walked over to his jacket by the door, walking through the broken glass scattered over the floor as if it weren't even there.

I raised an eyebrow and shook my arm. He chuckled lightly, scrolling through his phone. "Worried that something worse might have happened to you." he amended.

Mrs. Cullen came in from the kitchen with a plate of apples and peanut butter in one hand, and a cup of tea in the other. She placed them down on the table and lightly kissed the top of my head.

"Eat a bit, it'll make you feel better."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cullen," I said gratefully, taking a slice of apple and dipping it into the peanut butter. I always felt better after a panic attack if I ate something.

"No problem, Sweetheart." She sat down in the seat beside mine and crossed her legs. "Alice, darling." She called over her shoulder. "Can you go get Bella some clean clothes from upstairs, please?"

"Yeah, Mom," I didn't even see her leave the first floor, but by the time I finished swallowing down my first apple slice, she was standing beside me with a navy blue tube top dress.

"It doesn't have any sleeves, so you can put it on feet first!" She said brightly.

I shrugged my shoulder and took the dress from her, pushing the blanket off my legs to the floor. Carefully, I slipped the dress over my legs and stood to pull it up over my bra. It wasn't my normal fashion, but it was comfortable and meant that I didn't have to walk around in a blanket. Mrs. Cullen reached over and fixed the dress in places where I couldn't reach it and smoothed it down my sides.

"Much better," she murmured to herself. "You should be more comfortable now."

I nodded my thanks and handed over the blanket to her before sitting back down in my seat.

"Charlie! Carlisle Cullen here," Dr. Cullen said lightly as he walked around the dim living room, glass crunching under his shoes. He fell silent as he waited for my dad to respond.

I wonder if he is going to tell Charlie about my panic attack… and about blowing up his house. I looked down at my lap and felt the tears begin to rise again. He is going to be so angry...

"I am doing well. I am calling because Bella got into a minor accident in the forest by my house, and I would like to keep her over the house for observation overnight." Dr. Cullen fell silent for a moment before handing the phone over to me. "Your father wishes to speak with you."

I quickly swallowed my mouthful and sniffled. "Hey, Char—Dad," I corrected, cradling the phone between my good shoulder and ear.

"Bella, are you okay‽ "

"Yeah, I'm fine." I sniffled a bit more and rubbed at the corner of my eye. "I just dislocated my shoulder during a fall, it's not a big deal. Dr. Cullen wants to keep me to make sure the swelling goes down." I took a sip of tea as I listened to his response.

Ever the police officer, Charlie started with the hard-hitting questions first. " What were you doing by the Cullens'? They are ten miles out of Forks! "

"I took my broomstick out for a bit. I was going to go to Jake's but must've taken a wrong turn. Emmett was close by and found me." I kept as close to the truth as possible without revealing to him that the only reason Emmett found me was that he smelled me and wanted to feed. No need for him to know that little tidbit.

"I told you not to take that broom out," Charlie snapped, causing me to sigh.

"I've taken it out thousands of times. I was careless and didn't pay attention to my surroundings. Some trees are higher than others, and that's hard to tell in the dark." I leaned my head back against the chair I sat on. "Riding a broom is no more dangerous than driving a car—with the spells it has, it's likely safer than a car."

" If the car was driving one-hundred-fifty feet in the air maybe, " Charlie gave a long-suffering sigh. " Put Carlisle back on the phone. "

I quietly handed the phone back to Dr. Cullen and popped another piece of apple into my mouth while I watched him talk to my father.

"Charlie," Dr. Cullen greeted. He stood behind Mrs. Cullen, leaning his elbows on her shoulders as he held the phone out in front of them so I could hear the conversation.

"Where would Bella stay? I know you have a full house with five children."

"She can stay in the guestroom between the master-bedroom and Alice's room. She will be perfectly safe." Dr. Cullen promised. If I didn't know any better, I would say he was trying to compel my father over the phone with the way his honeyed voice smoothed over the words.

" I wouldn't want her to be a bother, " Charlie said hesitantly.

Well, that's just rude.

"Bella could never be a bother," Dr. Cullen said before shooting me a smile.

After a moment of deliberation, Charlie gave in. I would stay the evening at the Cullen Mansion with the expectation that I would go straight to school in the morning. One of the Cullens would go pick up my books and a change of clothes so I would have everything I need.

Dr. Cullen hung up after several more minutes of discussing some case Charlie was investigating. He took the seat that Mrs. Cullen had vacated. She had left, stating that she needed to fix up the guest room for me, like anything in the house wasn't already in pristine condition.

"How are you feeling?" He asked, his eyes appraising.

"It's a little stiff, but much better. Thank you," I said, taking another sip of tea.

"That's good, how abo—" The front door opened, interrupting Dr. Cullen's next question.

Emmett and Edward walked through the front door, each with various levels of confusion on their faces.

"What happened here?" Edward asked, his eyebrows moving higher up his forehead the more he took in. He turned to his brother, "Did you slam the front door again‽"

"It wasn't me!" Emmett protested. "I haven't even been home!"

"It wasn't Emmett," Alice called from the backyard. "Bella blew up the house."

My cheeks heated, and I refused to meet Edward's eyes as he made his way over to me. He kneeled in front of me and bent his head so he could see my face. "Hey," he breathed, lifting my chin so I would meet his eyes. "It's okay, there's no need to be embarrassed. It's just some glass." He brushed my hair from my eyes. "Are you alright?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah." Edward gently touched the crescent-shaped indents in my arms and I pulled them away, crossing my arms over my chest. "Have you seen, Jasper? I'm afraid I overwhelmed him."

"He's by the lake," Edward said. I looked down at him and his eyes swirled with hundreds of questions. He must know about the panic attack. "He'll be okay in a bit, he just needed some air."

"Ok, I'll talk to him later then," I sighed as I stood.

"He'd like that," Dr. Cullen commented with a smile as he stood from his chair. He took a quick look around the room. "We should probably start cleaning this up."

I waved my hand, motioning for him to sit back down. Slowly, over the glass-covered floor, I walked over to the closest window, ignoring Edward's cries of protest. I pulled out my wand from my back pocket as I went, twirling it between my fingers. "Calm down, I'm just repairing the windows and shelves. Reparo. " The glass on the floor around the window mended itself and flew into place, leaving the window, once again, in pristine condition.

I nodded and waved my wand at the rest of the room, "Reparo. "

Edward, Dr. Cullen, and Emmett watched in stunned silence as the glass picked itself up from the floor and other various surfaces, flew back to its rightful place and mended. The books and stuff that were on the glass shelves still lay haphazardly on the rug below them, but at least the shelves were in working order again.

I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling drained. I had stumbled, only to be caught by Edward. I gripped his forearms and leaned my head against his collarbone, taking in calming breaths.

"Bella?" Edward asked, his tone conveying his worry.

"I'm fine, just feel a bit dizzy."

Edward took my hand and pulled me back to the table, pushing me gently back into the seat I vacated.

Dr. Cullen stood and kneeled in front of me, taking my face in his hands. "Bella, look at me."

I took a deep breath before opening my eyes, keeping them on Dr. Cullen's forehead as he studied me. "Follow the light," he instructed gently, moving the light in his hand back and forth between my eyes. "You don't have a concussion."

"Great," I muttered. "It's probably because I used magic after having an outburst. I've exhausted my powers."

Edward forced my cooled tea into my shaky hands and I took a sip from it, relaxing as the liquid flowed down my throat. I was feeling better. I was going to have to hold back on using magic for the rest of the night, but I would be fine by morning.

"Are you up for telling us the rest of what happened with Emmett?" Carlisle asked softly, "Or would you rather he do it?"

"I don't remember much," Emmett admitted, plopping himself down on the sofa. "I remember feeling… something, but don't have any solid memory."

"Does anyone remember where I was?" I put down my tea and shoved another piece of apple in my mouth. Edward moved to stand behind me, his arms crossed on the top of my chair. I leaned back and pressed the back of my neck against his cold arms. The coolness helped me keep my head.

"You said you went to investigate a light in the forest around here?"

I nodded. "Right. Um, I was just playing around on my broom, going above the trees, between the branches—normal stuff to keep me occupied until I got there- when I heard this growl come from somewhere to my left.

"I pulled out my wand and lit up the area so I could see what was happening, but whatever it was had flown past me and I had to go higher above the trees—that's when I used a spell to slow them down and that was when I saw it was Emmett."'

"What was Emmett like?" Dr. Cullen questioned. "Can you describe him?"

"Ah, not himself, from what I know about him, anyway. I could tell something was off about him, I don't think he even recognized who I was until I said his name. Even then, I can't be entirely sure." I frowned and twirled a piece of hair between my fingers. "He kept trying to come at me, and I kept throwing random spells at him, hoping something would stick—some simply don't work on vampires, but I don't have a clue which don't work or why, so I was going in pretty blind."

My frown deepened and turned to him. He had his arms crossed on his knees and his head hidden in them. "I didn't hurt you, did I? I didn't use anything fire-related because I knew that could hurt you."

"No, I'm fine," came Emmett's voice through his knees.

"I'm glad," I said with a small smile. "Anyway, he jumped and I immobilized him, so he was kinda suspended in the air and I tried calling Edward, but he didn't pick up."

"Where we hunt tends to not have much cell service," Dr. Cullen muttered.

"The spell must've worn off quickly because the next thing I know, my broom snaps, and I am plunging a hundred feet to the forest floor."

"How did you survive that kind of fall?"

I shrugged. "My only guess is that my magic must have kicked in and slowed down the descent—it'll do that at times when wizards are in danger." I sighed. I watched as Alice walked into the living room.

"Speaking of phone calls, how is your phone?" Alice commented, taking it off the table and examining it.

"I think it survived," I said, eyeing the exposed back of the phone. I'd need to replace that, and the screen. A glance told me it was broken but workable. However, I would likely cut my finger if I continued using it, and blood was a nogo given my current circumstances.

"I'll be back," Alice said softly, slipping my phone into her pocket and disappearing back into the kitchen.

"What?" I said, cocking my head to the side. I turned to Edward and pointed, "Where is she going with my phone‽"

"She's going to TMobile to try and get your phone fixed," Edward explained.

"Oh," I nodded my head in understanding. "She doesn't need to do that." I took another sip of tea. "At that point we were on the forest floor and Emmett kept walking towards me and I kept throwing spells at him. I found my phone at one point and was able to call Alice, she and Edward showed up a couple of minutes later." I shrugged. "The rest is history."

Emmett lifted his face from his arms. A second later he was crouched in front of me, his face buried in my shoulder. "Bella, I am so sorry!"

"Emmett, be careful!" Edward snarled.

I threw Edward a look while I wrapped my good arm around Emmett's neck and patted his back, "It's okay. I'm fine."

"This is all my faul—"

"It wasn't you—"

"Don't be ridiculous, Emmett. It was her fault. None of this would have happened if she hadn't been around here!" Rosalie snapped, arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the banister heading up the stairs.

When did Malibu Barbie get here? My eye twitched in annoyance.

"How the hell is it my fault that Emmett attacked me‽" I asked incredulously, pulling away from him to glare at the blonde.

"If you hadn't been around the house he wouldn't have attacked you!" she said angrily, growling.

"Rosalie, knock it off," Emmett said, his voice tired. He moved to sit back on the couch, his head falling heavily in his hands. Mrs. Cullen sat by his side on the couch and rubbed his back as she whispered in his ear.

"Yeah, he would have just smelled the closest muggle and attacked them instead." I snapped back irritably with a roll of my eyes.

"You're probably what triggered him!"

"You know, the bitchy blonde persona is overdone why not try for another one?" I hissed, sick of her attitude. I took several calming breaths to regain my composure before continuing.

She opened her mouth to respond, her face twisting in anger, but I cut her off.

"Think for a moment. I've been around him hundreds of times at school—I've even used magic near him, he has never been triggered by anything I've done. He was already in that state when he approached me." I huffed out a breath, thinking back to the incident. "Something else is the obvious cause." The question is… what?

Rosalie scoffed, "this is ridiculous. What else could have possibly-"

"Will you be quiet? I need to think." I snapped, running a hand through my hair.

"Is anyone else hearing this?" Rosalie hissed, gesturing toward me.

I tuned her out. Something in the back of my mind was nagging me as I tried to force myself to remember what I have read recently in the vampire encyclopedia. "I need a minute, I am trying to remember something." I turned to Edward. "May I borrow your phone? I need to call a friend about something."

"Now?" He asked while handing over his phone.

"Yeah," I quickly dialed the number and put it on speaker.

Ring… Ring… Ring… This is Jake. I have nothing to say to you, so leave a message.

"Ugh," I snapped the phone shut and ran a hand through my hair. Who else can I call?

I guess I could call Renee if I am desperate. I scrunched up my nose at that thought. I didn't want to get my mother involved unless I really and truly had to. However, there was another wizard and witch that I might be able to try.

I dialed the Mississippi phone number and held my breath. Ring… Ring… Ri —

"Bella! I was just about to call you, " the harried voice on the other end of the line said. "Hanging out with vampires, I see."

I glanced around myself, watching as the Cullens' collectively froze as one. Oops. Maybe I should have warned them about my friend's premonition abilities before making the call.

"Prue, your visions are back, I see," I responded, emphasizing visions. I hoped that they would realize that I hadn't told anyone their secret. "It wasn't that traumatic," I added, knowing that she was stressing over the events she saw. Prudence was never able to see the outcome, only the traumatic event, and my interaction with Emmett would have been quite the doozy to watch.

"Traumatic enough that I saw it ." She fell silent for a moment. " Is your arm okay? " she asked softly.

"Dr. Cullen fixed me up, I should be fine in a couple of days," I reassured her.

"Still utter crap at healing spells then, " she said lightly. " Mason should be here in a minute. I had him go down to the Library and grab a few books on vampires. "

"Why is everyone after me today about my lack of healing abilities?" I sighed heavily and reached back to take Edward's hand. I pressed it to my forehead allowing the coolness to calm me. I was fully aware that I had five pairs of topaz eyes on me. "How long have you known?"

"About the vampires?"

"Mhm."

"Since that first day when the one in your biology class wanted to eat you," she said dryly. "It was interesting though."

"What was?" I asked, leaning my head back so that I could look up at Edward. There was no denying that he was interesting, but I wondered what she noticed about the encounter that I may have missed.

"Everything I saw was through his eyes, not yours. That might be because to you, he was just acting like a creep. You didn't find the event traumatic, just annoying. He certainly did though."

Emmett, Dr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen, and I coughed back a laugh of amusement at that. Edward and Rosalie didn't seem to find the revelation anything to laugh at.

Something was bothering me though. "Usually you wouldn't see past or present traumatic events unless you've come into physical contact with the person, or have a bond." I was confused, her powers didn't usually work the way she was describing.

"Thanks for explaining how my powers work, Bella," she sassed.

" You know what I meant, you brat."

"My only guess is that he will eventually become important to me in some way," She sighed heavily, " but don't ask me in what context because I haven't a clue." I could hear her flipping through the pages of something on her end. Likely her notebook, where she wrote down what she saw after each vision. "I haven't had one involving him or his family since- before today. I have been keeping tabs, obviously, through Jacob."

"Of course." I have a few choice words for Jacob the next time I talk to him.

"It's not like that," Prue defended. "Jacob has been sending me weekly owls."

"Lovely. I love being left out of talks between my friend group."

"Stop, it." She warned. "I was going to send you a message myself after that first day, but when I realized they meant you no harm, I destroyed the letter. It wouldn't do to send you an owl and risk exposure when I knew you were okay. It'd be really weird for the muggles to see an owl flying into your house and it's not like Curran has any phone service. The only reason you even got through to me is because we are on Spring Break."

"Mmhm," I said, feeling a tug of annoyance.

Prue sighed again, " Listen, I knew you were safe and that you'd talk to us about them eventually — whether it was because I had a vision or something big happened. It's better this way anyway. They're vampires, dark creatures. It wouldn't do to have written proof going into a government school that you are in contact with them. You know the trouble you could get into for that."

I huffed out a breath. "As everyone keeps reminding me."

" And before you get mad at Jacob for telling us, he didn't. I told him about my vision and he confirmed what was going on." I could hear a door opening on her side of the call and she fell silent for a few seconds. " Bella? Mase is here."

"Mason!" I cried out, happy for the distraction.

"Bella," he greeted me through gasps of breath. " Here are the ten fucking books you ordered, you psycho."

"Ten‽" I exclaimed. "Spring Break is only a week, what are you going to do with ten books‽"

"It's just a bit of light research, " Prue said defensively.

"Light my ass," Mason muttered. I could hear the sound of a window being roughly opened, the wood loudly protesting. " I need a smoke."

"Maybe you being out of breath has less to do with the books and more to do with you smoking like a chimney. "

"Go suck a dictionary. "

"Go suck a dick," she quipped.

"Glad — "

" Alright already!" I ran a hand through my hair, pulling my forehead out from under Edward's hand. "I need your help. So are you guys going to help me out, or are you going to sit there arguing all night?"

"Both," they said in unison.

I sighed, exasperated. "Why can't I have better friends?"

"Fuck you, we're awesome," Prue spat.

"What can trigger a vampire?" I asked before they could go off again. If I didn't get them on track now, we would be there all night. It's happened before.

"Other than the obvious?" Mason asked dryly. Despite the sarcastic comment, I could hear the sounds of magic flowing through the phone as they looked for key phrases in the books.

"Where are you guys, anyway?" Prue had been right; if they were at the school, the call wouldn't have gone through.

"Prue's house, " Mason huffed absentmindedly. " That's why I was so annoyed it was so many fucking books. I couldn't use magic to carry them because there are muggles everywhere. I had to carry them by hand like some plebeian."

"Oh, the horror," I deadpanned. "Welcome to our world."

"It sucks, ask for a refund." he snarked.

I could practically hear Prue rolling her eyes, " Don't listen to him. He loves it here. Mase has been playing video games almost non-stop since he arrived. He's never even seen a Playstation before. I had to turn off the power to the second floor to get him to even go to the Library for me."

"Don't flatter yourself! Anything is better than going home to an empty mansion even… this."

"You should come to my house next time, we don't even have a maid."

"What type of 15th-century hell-hole are you living in?"

"You always know the right things to say." I didn't take anything Mason said too seriously. He hasn't even seen his parents face-to-face since he was seven because they were afraid of his powers. It hurt him more than he cared to admit. He has spent nearly his entire life at my old school, and if he did go home, he pretty much was in a mansion by himself surrounded by the help who wanted nothing to do with him.

"It must be nice to be away from Curran for a bit," I commented after a moment.

"It would be if Prue wasn't on house arrest."

"You're on house arrest again?" I questioned my friend, my stomach falling. I should have checked on them, I am such a shitty friend. They were there for me from the moment I stepped foot into Curran, and the second I leave, it's like I forgot all about them. How could I do that? I probably wouldn't even be alive if it hadn't been for them.

"I refused to go back on the medication that suppresses my psychic powers," she scoffed. " Why the hell would I go back on them for a week, when I would have to be off them again at school? The point of the school is to train myself to deal with my psychic powers without pills. How will I ever learn to control it if the place where I can best test it, I am drugged?"

To me, it was really hard to argue with that logic because I agreed with her. However, I could also see her parents' side of things. They lived in a muggle neighborhood and when visions hit Prue, it looked like a psychotic episode—sometimes she was violent, other times she would sit still and be lost in it, and there were even times when she would narrate exactly what was happening down to every last fantastical detail. One never knew what type of vision would hit her, or when, and if one were to occur in public it would cause a lot of problems for her father, the Mayor of their little Mississippi town.

" That sucks so much, I'm so sorry, Prue."

"We will be back to school on Saturday," Prue remarked. "So, it doesn't really matter. It's given me time to practice for the school play."

"Muggles are so weird," Mason commented. " Some of them would think her a prophet, others would try to burn her on a stake, but you never know which type you may encounter."

"No kidding," I snorted. "Didn't some idiot try to get a priest to exorcise you?"

"Yeah, because the neighbor's son caught me mid-vision once," Prue snapped. " Thank god that went nowhere. My parents would have wound up having me committed and I would have been stuck in some asylum like my great aunt had because of her powers. She died there!"

From the corner of my eye, I watched Dr. Cullen's eyes widen a bit and look up at Edward. I couldn't see his expression but felt him shrug. That's an interesting response.

"That doesn't even make sense," Mason said. " Your parents know you have magical abilities beyond your psychic ones, that's why you go to Curran. The most they would have done was not allow you to come home for breaks."

"Oh, please, like extra powers would have stopped them from trying to commit me if they felt the need. My great aunt had them as well, that didn't mean anything in the end. Her dad still sent her away. My parents' stupid public image means more to them than I do. If they had to lock me up for good, they would without a moment's hesitation."

"Your parents love you more than you think they do," Mason said gently.

"Yeah, sure." Prue countered dismissively.

They both huffed and went back to their searching. I stayed quiet, not knowing what to say. I never did. Life was difficult at times with Renee, but I've never felt unloved or unwanted.

"I've got something," Prue said after a few minutes of page-flipping. " I don't know if it's relevant though, considering where you are."

I sat up straighter. "Any little bit can help."

"It says here that certain plants emit smells that are similar to blood. If he came into contact with one of those it might have done it."

"Bulbophyllum orchids? " Mason asked.

"Mhm."

"Unlikely. Those aren't native to the states — the closest is South America. They need very high humidity to grow." Mason said, " Thank Merlin, because who the hell wants a plant that can smell of blood, rotten meat, or urine — among other things?"

"They're useful in certain potions," Prue offered.

"And that is why I am shit at Potions. I'll stick with Chemistry, thanks."

"It's the same thing ."

"It is not. Chemistry is obviously the superior science," Mason argued back.

"Knock it off!" I growled.

"Has he fed in a while?" Prue asked.

I looked up and around to study them for a moment before answering. "Yeah, they feed quite often. They go to muggle school with me so they have to stay well-fed." I turned to look Emmett in the eyes, they were back to the topaz they were that afternoon. "His eyes were topaz during lunch. If he needed to feed they would have been dark—almost brown or black."

"Hm, well there are several spells that can — "

"What‽"

"Spells," Mason repeated. "According to this here, certain spells could make a vampire lose their sense and convert to their more primitive state."

"What kind of spells?" I asked. Could I have somehow triggered him as Rosalie had claimed without realizing it?

"Hm, it doesn't say exactly, but the spells would definitely not be anything within your capabilities. It would have had to be someone who dabbles in dark magic."

I shook my head, "I am the only wizard within miles. There are a couple of families in La Push and that is about it, they certainly wouldn't be into Dark Magic."

"That you know of," Mason reminded me.

"Yeah," I fell silent for a moment. "Is there anything else?"

"I mean, dementors, but unless there has been a lot of fog — "

"There is always a lot of fog, she lives in Washington," Prue reminded him.

"Which is only about nine hundred miles away from Alcatraz where the dementors live, " Mason countered. "That would be nothing for them."

"Why the hell would they come to Forks of all places?" I asked, twirling a strand of hair through my fingertips. "We have a population of like 3000 people, and it's like, small-town people. They wouldn't get much to feed on here."

"On the contrary, many that live in small towns tend to be happier than those in large cities." Mason said, "There is a reason so many stay in their little towns."

I wasn't too sure about that. I certainly wasn't a fan of small towns.

"And a dark creature's soul is like a delicacy for them. They pack more of a punch than a normal human soul would."

" How does that even work? Most dark creatures aren't exactly thrilled to be dark creatures, and dementors feed on happiness."

"They feed on happiness and thrive on pain and despair."

"You're making this shit up," I said, puffing out a laugh. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"They could be after you," Prue offered. " You did just have that incident, didn't you? MACUSA may have sent them to check up on you."

I will be having a very long conversation with Jacob the next time I see him.

"And, what, they accidentally triggered him?" I shook my head. "That doesn't make sense anyway, I just talked to the Aurors a few hours ago. Even if they suspected me of lying, dementors wouldn't have been dispatched until tomorrow at the earliest and they had no reason to have had them here before my meeting."

"The only other thing I could think of is maybe he somehow ingested some type of drug," Prue said, flipping a few pages. " It says here that some drugs, especially ones that are difficult for humans to handle can affect dark creatures ."

I slowly turned to Edward and raised an eyebrow. He looked guilty. "We might have hit a winner," I said lightly.

"Drugs, really?" Prue asked.

"Ooh, this will be interesting."

"You boys do one of your fun experiments tonight?"

I stood, placing the open phone on the coffee table, and went to sit beside Emmett on the couch. I took his hand in mine, squeezing it. "You can tell me, I won't be mad." I ignored Rosalie's growls, pretending I didn't hear them. This wasn't about her. It was important to find out what triggered Emmett so that we could prevent it from happening again.

"Devil's Breath." He squeezed my hand before he dropped it, replacing my hand with his head. He roughly ran his fingers through his curls and pulled at them.

"Devil's Breath," I muttered to myself. Where had I heard about it before? I tried to remember the news stories recently, maybe from there?

"The zombie drug?" Mason asked.

"What? Zombie drug?" Prue asked, echoing the question of everyone in the room.

"Yeah, it's been making the rounds in Columbia. It's fucked up stuff. People use Devil's Breath to make victims carry out sexual assaults and robberies."

Suddenly, I remembered where I had seen it. Charlie had left some of his case files open on the table one night and I had taken a peek. "Yeah, I read something about that in one of Charlie's files. He's working on some weird case in Seattle where the people basically become zombies. If you somehow ingest the stuff or even get it on your skin, you are powerless and completely at that person's mercy."

"Many under the influence of Devil's Breath find themselves in jail, at rape or murder scenes, even with their bank accounts emptied and have no idea how they got where they were or what happened for huge chunks of hours at a time."

I turned to Emmett who had resumed his position of hiding his face in his arms, fingers twisting his hair in agitation. "And you guys decided to do one of your little experiments with Devil's Breath?"

"Emmett and I happened to come across some when we hunted down in South America during mid-winter break." I swung around to Jasper, who had just come in through the kitchen. He looked exhausted. I didn't think that was possible for a vampire. I guess he didn't feel up to going shopping with Alice.

"Didn't you do any research before trying it out? A drug that screws with humans like that should have given you some red flags." I glowered at him before turning my gaze down at Emmett who hadn't moved. "It's different when you are in the wilderness by yourselves—hundreds of miles from civilization, but there are hundreds of humans, within a ten-mile radius of here! Someone could have gotten killed! I held my own—"

"Barely," Rosalie commented snidely.

"Because I have powers." I finished, ignoring Rosalie. "A normal human would have no chance against you!"

"And that's ignoring the fact that we would have all been exposed," Dr. Cullen said softly from behind me, his voice reprimanding. "I have warned you boys about these experiments of yours time and time again. I am very disappointed in the three of you."

"Go upstairs to your rooms and stay in there until we come to talk to you," Mrs. Cullen added with quiet command.

"Yes, Ma'am." Emmett pulled himself up from the couch and gave me one last heartbreaking look before following his brothers upstairs to their separate rooms.

I couldn't imagine being almost a hundred years old and still being grounded.

"Bella, before we go," Prue said.

I looked over at the table in shock, I had forgotten they were there for a minute. I picked the phone back up and placed it back against my ear. "Yeah, what's up, Prue?"

"Make sure to check up on Jake."

"Jake? Is he okay? I tried calling him before I called you, but I didn't get an answer."

"It might not be anything, I didn't see anything, it's more just a feeling."

"Should I go over there?"

"I don't think that's necessary. Maybe, if you don't hear from him by Saturday. Like I said, it's just a feeling, but better safe than sorry."

I nodded. "Yeah, thanks, Prue. I'll talk to you soon."

"Love you, talk to you soon."

"Bye, Bella," Mason called from somewhere in the background. I could hear the distant sounds of Croc playing in the background. He must be back on the Playstation.

I snapped Edward's phone shut and slipped it into my pocket. I would make sure to give it back to him when I see him later tonight. We definitely had a lot that we needed to discuss.

~o0o~

I knocked softly on Emmett's door and waited for him to invite me in. After a moment of silence on his end, I tried again. "Emmett, may I come in?"

The door opened and I looked up, my heart squeezing at the sight of him. He looked really, truly devastated. His hair was a mess, his curls turning haphazardly every which way from where he had been running his fingers through it over and over. His lips were dry and worried red, he must have been biting them. Worst of all were his eyes.

An interesting fact about vampires is that they couldn't cry. Edward described it as feeling as though you should be crying, but you've simply run out of tears. Their eyes go dry and itchy from the lack of tears, eventually turning red, but no matter how hard they try, they can't shed a single tear.

Emmett's eyes were red. Not the irises, which were a dull gold, but the whites and the skin around them. He'd been rubbing at them for a while.

"Yeah." His voice sounded raw, rough to my ears. He dropped his hand from the doorknob and went to the bed he shared with Rosalie.

I pushed against the door until I heard the telltale click! of it closing behind me. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing where I could sit in the room.

Emmett distractedly patted the spot beside him on the bed, and I walked over, gingerly sitting on the edge of it, angling my body so that I was facing him. I placed my hand on his and squeezed it lightly to get his attention, "Emmett?"

"Bella, I'm so sorry." His voice cracked as he shook his head.

"I know, and I forgive you," I whispered, leaning up to wrap my arms around his neck and hugged him as tightly as I could. "It was an accident, it could have happened to anyone."

He clung to me, and dry sobbed into my shoulder. I closed my eyes and rocked him, careful to not tip us over- he was much bigger than I. "It was so stupid, I would never be able to live with myself if I had killed you."

"But you didn't, I'm here. I'm fine," I reminded him. "There is no use obsessing over things that 'might have' happened. It didn't and that is what matters."

"Yeah," he puffed out a breath and sniffled, rubbing the back of his wrist against his eyes. "You're right."

"And at least there isn't a funeral," I said brightly.

"Bella!" Edward growled from somewhere upstairs.

I laughed nervously and wiped my sweaty hands on the skirt of the dress I was wearing. "Right. Now isn't the time to introduce my dark sense of humor."

We sat awkwardly on the bed in complete silence until I decided it was time to lighten the mood.

"So, what's the damage?" I asked.

Emmett shook his head and chuckled weakly, "I have to give up the keys to the Jeep for a month, I am not allowed to play video games for the next two weeks and I have to go volunteer somewhere after school for the rest of the school year—I get to choose the place."

"Where are you thinking of volunteering?"

"Not at the hospital."

"There is a god," Dr. Cullen said as he passed Emmett's door, causing us to giggle.

"I might be able to help. Charlie has been complaining about not having enough help around the precinct. I can put in a good word for you." I patted my pocket for my phone before realizing that Alice had it. "He offered me a job after school, I was thinking of taking it."

"That'd be great! We would get to hang out together too without Edward constantly over us. Some legit brother/sister time!"

Emmett's door opened and Jasper and Edward leaned against it, both grinning. "Actually, she is asking for us too. We have to volunteer as well, and Jasper can't work at the hospital," Edward shrugged. "And I don't want to." His face fell and he shuddered. I wonder what traumatized him so badly that even with two medical degrees he doesn't want to help out there.

"Oh, boo," Emmett pouted. "Well, it'll still be cool. At least we can sneak peeks at some cases." He rubbed his hands together before he jumped up onto the bed and bounced excitedly, "We can be like those people on Law and Order SVU!"

"Emmett, stop jumping on the bed!" Esme called from downstairs. "You already used your quota of replacement beds for the year!"

"Yes, Mom!" Emmett said, jumping off the bed and landing lightly on his feet.

"You probably won't be going on any cases," I laughed as I watched him. It was good to see him with so much energy, much better than that broken shell from earlier.

The door slammed open downstairs and suddenly Alice was standing in front of me, holding out a phone that I had never seen before. "Oh, Alice, what did you do?" I took the phone from her and studied it.

"They didn't have your model of phone and couldn't fix it there, so I got you a new one," Alice explained, throwing her bags on Emmett's bed and moving to sit at Rosalie's vanity. "You can't complain, Emmett broke it so he should replace it."

"With something of the same value," I complained.

"Sidekicks are a little more pricey to buy, but they only cost a dollar a day to use. It's only a $30 a month phone bill. You actually will save some money monthly this way."

I… I can't argue with that. I pressed on the side of the screen and it popped up, revealing a QWERTY keyboard.

Oh, Merlin, this is so cool. No, be strong, Bella! "I can't accept this."

"It's cute that you think you have a choice." She turned to Emmett. "Speaking of replacing things. Don't forget to replace her broom too."

My eyes widened and I dropped the phone onto the bed. "Oh, Merlin, my broom! Renee is going to kill me." I jumped up and rushed past them, running down the stairs to look for my broom.

I saw my broom laying across the kitchen island once I entered the kitchen. It was broken so badly in several places that I couldn't even be sure every piece was there. "Oh, Merlin. I am going to be in so much trouble." I moaned, pulling my wand from my pocket and running it over the air over the broom. "I don't even know how to begin to fix it!"

I felt my heart start to speed up and my breath falter, but I couldn't stop the thoughts that kept spinning in my mind or the suffocating heat that enveloped my body. Oh, no. Not again.

What am I going to tell Renee?

She's going to be so angry at me. She's going to hate me.

How could I have been so irresponsible?

A sharp pain blossomed in my chest and I coughed out a breath, releasing it in weak gasps as I wrapped my good arm tightly around my middle. I doubled over, my vision going in and out, my head swimming.

Two cold hands grabbed my shoulders, and I looked up at the blurry blonde vampire in front of me. "Jasper?" I asked in confusion, shaking my head. That couldn't be right. He doesn't come within six feet of me if he could help it, and after earlier, I doubt he would want to.

"Bella, stop. You need to try and take a deep breath." It was Jasper holding me up. "Bella, just breathe. Don't worry about anything else. Just breathe ." Compulsion, he was trying to compel me into listening to his directions.

I screwed my eyes shut as my vision continued to dim. My cheeks were aflame with shame at the tears burning their trail down my face.

There was a sudden POP! and we were plunged into darkness.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I cried as I tried to force myself to comply with Jasper's commands.

I was destroying their house again.

At this point, I was shaking and the sound of my heart was all but drowning out Jasper's voice and the chaos around us. I weakly gasped and fell forward, unable to stop the onslaught of emotions pouring over me.

"Jasper, what's going on‽ Why can't you calm her down‽"

Another POP! The noise from the ten o'clock news suddenly stopped.

"I think her powers are blocking me," Jasper said, his voice by my ear as he talked to his brother. "Bella, I need you to breathe." He pressed my hand to his chest and simulated breathing. "Here, in and out, just like I am doing. Can you copy what I am doing, Bella?"

I weakly nodded my head and tried to copy him. My chest hurt and all I could think about was how angry Renee would be when she found out I wrecked grandma's broom and how pissed the Cullen's likely were with me because I just caused a blackout and broke their TV.

Oh, Merlin. That TV was probably worth more than Charlie's mortgage! I'll never be able to pay them back.

I gasped suddenly, taking in several lungfuls of oxygen as I rested my forehead on Jasper's chest. He must have broken through my magic somehow. I felt as he forcefully pushed the anxiety and panic away, but I still could feel the terror gripping me just under the forced calm. It doubled when he began to pull away. "Don't go. Please, Jasper," I begged through gasping breaths trying to assuage the dizziness that gripped me.

Renee was going to hate me, and now the Cullens' will too. Edward will never want to speak with me again.

"Easy, Bella. I am not going anywhere." I felt him gently pushing me back until something behind me hit my knees. "Sit down on the couch. I'll be right beside you." I felt the couch dip beside me and a gentle hand on my back. "There you go," Jasper said softly. "Breathe."

I nodded, leaning forward to hide my face in my hands. After a few minutes of me in that position, I felt the couch shift again. "Bella, take one of these." I looked up and met Edward's worried gaze. In his palm, he held a small yellow pill and in his other hand a bottle of water.

"Thanks," I mumbled, popping the medication into my mouth and chasing it down with the water.

"Bella, what happened?" I looked to the right. Jasper had moved from his spot beside me and was now sitting on the coffee table, his hands folded in his lap.

"It was another panic attack," I muttered. "I'm sorry, it must be so hard for you."

"Don't worry about me, I can handle it. You just took me by surprise the first time." He held out his hands, "See? I'm perfectly fine."

I nodded and looked around at the damage I had caused, once again, in their living room. "I can't even help fix it this time."

"Why not?"

"Even if I trusted my magic right now—which based on the number of times I blew up things today, I don't—magic messes with electronics. I can probably put all the pieces of glass back together, but the TV and those lightbulbs will never work again." I pulled my knees up to my chest and leaned my head against them, "I'll need a while to pay you back for the TV."

"Don't even worry about the TV," Alice said with a wave of her hand. "We were planning on replacing it soon anyway."

I turned my head to the side and stared at her dubiously.

"We get the newest model each year and donate the old one," Alice said in way of explanation. "We just won't be donating a TV this year."

If anyone but Alice had told me that, I would have said that they were full of it. As it were though, she barely allows her family members to wear an article of clothing more than once, so that claim was not out of the realm of possibility.

"More importantly, can you pinpoint what caused the panic attack, Bella?" Dr. Cullen asked. I hadn't even realized he came back downstairs.

"When I saw my broom." I shrugged, trying to seem indifferent although I felt anything but. "I'm sorry. Usually, I can stop them from occurring, I don't know what's wrong with me today."

"You've been through a lot," Edward said with a shake of his head. "Any of us would have broken much earlier and done much worse than explode a couple of things."

I sighed heavily. "Maybe. The thing is, my grandmother gave me that broom when I first went to Curran Academy of Therapy and Magic- the school where Prue and Mase still go. She said the exercise would help me deal with everything I was going through at the time.

"I know it's hard to believe now with how close we seem, but I never got along well with Renee when I was a kid. For years I blamed her for the divorce and not being able to see Charlie much.

"I acted out, and my magic was out of control—today was nothing compared to what would have happened, on a daily basis, a few years ago. I burned down several houses—it got to the point where I became an exposure risk. Because I was such a risk, MACUSA mandated that I be sent to Curran indefinitely. I was about ten at the time. I was only allowed home for a couple of weeks during Christmas, a week for Easter, and then the summer holidays."

"You're out now, you must have learned to control your powers," Edward stated. "You're fine at school."

I looked around the dim room, only lit because of the fireplace, and raised an eyebrow at the broken glass that lay around us. "Ignoring the millions of pieces of broken glass that are currently decorating your living room, I've had several outbursts at school, including the one where I broke Ben's nose because I caused the lockers to slam open."

"Ah, yes, I remember that."

A vacuum started up behind the couch and I turned to see Mrs. Cullen quickly vacuuming up every bit of glass that she could, her sharp eyes picking up pieces I would have never seen until they were embedded in the bottom of my foot.

"Truth is, I've gotten a lot better," I said, with a one-shoulder shrug. "But I still have outbursts at times," waving my hand around. "Usually during high-stress situations."

"You're the reason the lightbulb exploded the first day you came to school!" Emmett exclaimed suddenly, snapping his fingers.

I nodded, "Yeah. Edward made me extremely nervous and…" I closed and opened my hands to emulate exploding, "Pop! "

"It took me hours to get that glass out of my hair," Rosalie growled.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "I hadn't done it on purpose."

"Yeah, well. That seems to be a common theme with you."

Mrs. Cullen spared me a glance, and must not have liked what she saw on my face because she turned off the vacuum and spun towards her daughter. "Rosalie Lillian Hale! Your room, now ! And you stay in there. Do you hear me?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue before sauntering up the stairs. "Whatever."

"Can I just go home?" I asked softly, standing, and smoothing the dress over my thighs.

Edward shook his head. "You're supposed to stay so that Carlisle can observe you."

I sighed at that. "I know, and I really appreciate it, but all I am doing is causing trouble by being here. It's late. I'll just go home and head to bed. I'll be fine in the morning."

"You aren't causing any trouble, Love," Edward said softly. "Emmett breaks things constantly—"

"Hey!"

"And we are all known to break walls and furniture from time to time. You heard Esme earlier. Emmett has filled his allowed quota for bed replacements, for the year, already. It's only March and he's allowed five!"

"Five a year?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "I haven't gotten a new bed since I was like four!"

"To be fair, you haven't been having marathon bunny sex on your bed either," Emmett said with a mischievous grin. "Besides, you are allowed an outburst or two, you almost died today."

"I could have taken you if you didn't catch me off guard," I teased.

"Anytime, anyplace, babydoll."

"No one is having a battle," Edward said with a roll of his eyes. "Please don't encourage him."

"I'll try," I said. But I can't make any promises.

"Epic battles aside, I'll get you a new broom, the best one—top of the line—" Emmett paused for a moment as his eyes lit with excitement. "I'll get you a flying vacuum!"

"A flying vacuum‽" I asked incredulously, "What on earth is that?"

"So," Emmett shooed Jasper away and sat on the coffee table in front of me, talking excitedly with his hands. "According to Sabrina's aunt, old-time witches used broomsticks, but vacuums are much faster and more efficient!"

"Sabrina…?" I shook my head, not quite following him.

"The Teenage Witch, of course!"

Edward and Jasper snorted, their shoulders shaking with the force of their laughter. I shook my head and giggled, "Emmett! Electronics don't work in the wizarding world—that's why I can't fix the light bulbs or the TV! We don't have flying vacuums. Sabrina is a made-up show, magic doesn't work that way, at all."

He frowned. "Does that mean you won't live to be well over 600 years old like them?"

I shook my head. "It's not out of the realm of possibility, but it is extremely unlikely. There are around a million wizards and witches worldwide and the average lifespan, last checked, was 137.5 years. Granted, the data is greatly skewed. The last time they did a Wizard Census was in the '90s during a time when a wizard was murdering people left and right in Europe. Many people on the much younger end of the scale passed away, making the average younger than it was in previous checks."

"That's fascinating. Would you be able to tell us more?" Dr. Cullen was sitting at the living room table now and was leaning towards me with interest.

I continued, "Our lifespans have to do with magical genes. Wizards fall into three categories: Pureblood, Halfblood, and Muggleborn. For the sake of simplicity, I will refer to everyone in my world with powers as wizards. Those with no magic will be referred to as muggles—because we are all human. My information is a bit dated, but you guys can get the idea at least."

I looked around, sort of wishing I had a whiteboard if only to keep me on track.

"Now, this isn't an exact science, and again, it's old information, but Pureblood wizards are born when two pureblood parents mate. They tend to live an average of three hundred years. Some will live longer, I think the oldest was around six hundred and something, but that is very rare. It happens at about a tenth as much to us as muggles who reach the centennial age.

"Halfblood wizards are what you get when you have both muggle and wizard ancestry. Somewhere along the line, a wizard married a muggle and they had a baby. Those who are half-blood live an average of 285 years. Muggleborns, those born from two non-magical parents—tend to live about 115 years if they had magical training."

"Such a difference," Mrs. Cullen gasped. Having finished vacuuming, she was now covering the broken TV screen with a piece of cardboard.

"I have a theory on that." I pushed my hair from my shoulder. "Back then, muggleborns were persecuted for having muggle parents. This was something that has been going on for thousands of years. It was difficult for them to get magical training and when they did, they were often abused because most training is done at a boarding school under pureblood supervision and the purebloods hated muggleborns."

"What about those that didn't have magical training?" Dr. Cullen asked. He had pulled out a notepad and was taking notes. I don't understand why. From what I understood, they had near-perfect memory.

I grimaced. "Most never make it past their twentieth birthday." I shook my head, "If you can't control your magic, you become an exposure risk. It is said that the government sends agents to kill them, or throw them in Alcatraz until they die."

I swallowed for a moment, "The younger the person is, the more likely they would be killed where they stood. It is… kinder than the alternatives."

The living room fell into a stifling silence.

"So, from what I understand, the more magic one has in their body, the longer they are likely to live?" Emmett asked.

"Yes, and no. That seems to be the general rule, but there have been cases of magic being too strong and people being unable to control their magic in their body and they sort of implode." I pushed my hands outward to emulate an explosion.

"Does anything else come into play?"

"Like with muggles we can get sick, murdered, accidents can happen, suicides, etc. We aren't as fragile, but things do happen."

"What about dark creatures?" Edward asked suddenly. "You have mentioned natural-born verses changed when it comes to vampires and werewolves—does that make a difference?"

"I can tell you what I know, but I am not an expert. There are differences in the lifespans of werewolves. A natural-born/shape-shifting werewolf, like those in La Push, can live for around 80-90 years, but in the presence of vampires, they can live indefinitely, frozen in their body until the vampires leave. However, there are cases like Jacob. He is both a natural-born werewolf, but he also has magical genes from his mother. Someone like him could naturally live up to 150 years even without the presence of vampires.

"Changed werewolves, those who natural-born werewolves bite and change when they lose their minds and go on rampages, only live about an average of 45 years.

"They are forced to change into their werewolf form about once a month—on the full moon. However, they can't handle it because their body is never meant to go through those changes. That means, with every change, their body is being worn down more and more until they die, usually during a transformation or from complications that resulted from a transformation.

"The prognosis for someone who has been bit is usually 10-15 years unless they are very lucky. It is thought that when children are changed, they might have a longer life expectancy because they were changed before their bodies finished developing—but that is all speculation."

"And vampires?"

"Natural-born vampires are believed to be immortal, but, to be frank, there aren't many records to confirm or deny that information. The oldest vampire on record is said to be 890 years old, and I think that was recorded around 50 years or so ago. He might have been the leader of the vampires, I can't be sure, and I don't remember their name. I couldn't even tell you if they are still alive. For obvious reasons, vampires aren't exactly willing to work with wizards and vice-versa.

"As for changed vampires—" I waved my hand to indicate to them, "you would know much more about that than I. I honestly don't think most in the wizarding world are aware your kind even exists. It's been very difficult to find much on vampires that have been changed from humans. I think out of all the books Jacob and I have researched, we found a whopping total of 13 pages of information, and half of those were just pictures. It seems to me that all of the information is lumped together because the majority doesn't know any better."

"Yes, well, as fascinating as all this is," Alice slapped a broom magazine down onto Emmett's lap, "Here is a magical broom magazine. Pick something from there. I'll call Bella's friends and wire money to them so that they can have one delivered to her."

My eyes widened, "Where did you get a broom magazine from‽"

Alice raised an eyebrow. "Your room."

"When were you in my room‽"

"When I went to pick up your books and a change of clothes for tomorrow," Alice didn't say 'duh' but it was implied.

"Honestly, you guys don't need to buy me a new broom," I said, holding up my hands. My cheeks were reddening with embarrassment and my heart began to pound again. "It was an accident, I can get a new one myself."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid. He broke it, he will pay for it."

"If you insist." I bit my lip and sighed, "Just make sure you don't get me a 5000 galleon one. I don't need a professional broomstick."

"What is the conversion rate?"

I sighed, knowing that it was a lost cause. "100 galleons amount to around $500—it's not a perfect conversion, but it's usually not too far off."

"So would something around 150 galleons be considered reasonable?" Emmett asked, laying his foot on his knee as he flipped through a magazine.

I nodded, "Yeah. That is pretty reasonable for a new broom."

"Give me your friend's number and I will arrange for you to have a new broom," Emmett said, pulling out his phone.

I sighed, "You really don't have—"

"228-555-0199." Edward recited after a glance at his phone.

"When did you… nevermind," I muttered blearily, noticing the phone was no longer in my pocket.

"Come on, bedtime for the human," Edward said lightly, pulling me off the couch and leading me to the stairs. "We can hear more stories from you another time."

I didn't argue with him and just followed his lead. "Goodnight," I said tiredly. The day's events seemed to have finally caught up with me.

"See you in the morning, Sweetheart." Mrs. Cullen called from the kitchen.

I nodded and let Edward lead me to the guestroom. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

~o0o~

I woke up a few hours later, just before dawn, with a massive headache and a pain in my shoulder. I slipped out of bed and walked out into the hallway. It was dark, so I gave myself a few moments to adjust before I went to go look for Dr. Cullen to get some more Tylenol.

I was at the top of the stairs when their voices began to filter up through the stairwell.

"What exactly was going on between Bella and Lauren?" Emmett's deep voice met my ears, a tinge of anger in it.

"Lauren has some kind of vendetta against Bella," Alice said, "I am not sure what it is about, but she had this whole five-part plan in place to completely humiliate her."

"Who cares?" Rosalie snapped. "It's not our place to get involved in human affairs. We are trying to not get exposed here. Am I the only one who remembers that?"

"Of course not, Rosalie, but circumstances have changed." Dr. Cullen said in his usual calming tone.

"Because of that little human?" Rosalie scoffed. "She's just like the rest of them, there is nothing special about her."

"She's important to me," Edward snapped. "I didn't make this much of a fuss when you brought Emmett home back in the thirties, and having to help a newborn vampire is a lot more work than dealing with one human."

"If she were a normal human maybe, she blew up half the house… twice!"

"Just tell us what the actual issue is, Rosalie," Alice asked, her tone bored. "And it better not be anything as stupid as 'Edward thinks she's prettier than me'."

Rosalie fell silent with a scowl and Alice sighed. "Rosalie's confusing jealousy issues aside, we have a huge problem. Lauren is planning on making Bella's life really hard and after what we saw today, I don't know if she can handle that without blowing up the entire school, or worse."

"What do we know about Lauren's plans?"

Alice snorted. "Most of them are stupid and petty things. It's not the actions, but the results that I am worried about. Take today for example. Bella was supposed to play Badminton with Jackie Bergreen. It would go well, but then Bella, being… Bella, she would have backed up into Lauren while trying to hit the shuttlecock back at Jackie.

"Lauren would have purposely tripped her, and Bella would have fallen backward and slammed her head into the bleachers. Blood would have been everywhere. On top of that, Lauren would have made it worse by pretending to fall over her and kick her in the ribs, breaking several of them, not realizing until it was too late that Bella was unconscious and bleeding. Bella would have been DOA." Alice gave a heavy sigh. "The plan had been to just trip her and embarrass her a little bit."

Well, that sucks.

"Quietus," I muttered before shoving my wand back into my back pocket and quietly made my way down the stairs.

I leaned against the banister and listened more closely to their conversation. It would be rude to interrupt them, after all.

"What are her other plans?" Emmett asked. He was sitting on the floor by Rosalie's feet. I could just see his head over the side of the couch.

"I don't really know, they change constantly. The only main theme is that she will try to do it when Bella is alone."

"That's no big deal then, she's never really alone. She has a friend in almost every class." Emmett responded with a shrug.

"Yeah, except when she goes to the bathroom, goes to her locker, takes walks in the middle of classes. Unfortunately, there are a lot of opportunities where something bad can happen. And that's not even discussing when we aren't in school because it is sunny." Edward said. His hair was an utter mess from where he had been pulling at the strands.

"We can't be everywhere at once, Bella can handle herself," Jasper said. "She's a lot stronger than you think she is."

"But maybe we can… persuade Lauren somehow," Alice offered, her voice holding just a tinge of evil.

And that is my cue to make myself known.

I walked the rest of the way down the stairs and began to walk towards the kitchen. I was almost halfway there before anyone said anything.

"Why can't we hear your footsteps?" Dr. Cullen asked, turning around in his chair to face me.

I turned and smiled sheepishly at the family.

"Or your heartbeat?" Edward added.

"Or your breathing?" Jasper inquired.

"I put a simple silencing spell on myself," I smirked. "It isn't fair that you can sneak up on me, but you can hear everything I do."

"That is both awesome and terrifying," Emmett said as he jumped up. "If we hadn't caught your scent, none of us would have had any idea you were walking past us."

"The horror," I deadpanned. I turned to Dr. Cullen. "I was looking for you, Dr. Cullen. Do you have any more Tylenol for me? My shoulder and head hurt."

"Of course, Bella." He stood and went to the door to fish out a couple of pills from his medical bag. "I'll make sure to leave some for you on the kitchen counter so that you can take some to school with you."

Mrs. Cullen handed me a glass of water and I took it from her gratefully before taking the pills from her husband and throwing them into my mouth. I drank the entire cup before handing it back to her. "Thank you."

"It's a bit early, sweetheart, are you going to go back to sleep?" Mrs. Cullen asked, rubbing my back.

I shook my head. "No. I think I'll take a shower and then make sure I didn't forget to do any of my homework."

Mrs. Cullen smiled and gave me a one-armed hug. "Take your time. When you are done, I'll have some breakfast ready for you."

"I appreciate it," I said softly.

Edward was at my side in a flash, smiling down at me. "Good morning."

"Morning! Have a good night?"

He shrugged. "Same as usual." He tugged on a piece of my hair before placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me forward. "Come on, I'll show you where everything is so you can take a shower."

I looked over his shoulder and noticed that everyone else had left the living room. I shrugged and allowed him to lead me back up the stairs. There would be plenty of opportunities to ask about their plans later.

---

Hello, Everyone!

First, a huge thanks to my beta, Seygen Belial, for looking over this chapter for me. And, of course, a huge thanks to everyone for their support. It really brightens my day when I get messages from you!

Many people experience panic attacks differently, I merely based Bella's off how mine work and what helps me. Distraction and being touched work for me, and might not help someone else. Make sure you ask before touching someone in the midst of a panic attack.

Happy New Year!

Keep it classy, make good choices, and I hope to see you soon.
Chandlure