Most characters belong to S. Meyer. The rest belong to me.

Enjoy!


HAUNTED

Bella

"Cai Isabella, Healer Kate would like to see you. Will you follow me?" A male housestaff waited for me to close the tome I'd been reading and then lead me towards Healer's.

I thought I knew what this was about. It had been three weeks since I'd come to Clanholme and I'd succeeded in following the rigid schedule I'd set for myself. Exercises, then a bath before heading to the kitchens for my service hours, followed by a stolen half an hour in the stables with my mahogany friend, before spending the afternoon in the library, where the Chief Archivist had gradually unbent enough to let me help with cleaning the shelves and arranging the tomes. After the library, I changed and went to dinner with the Clanholding residents, followed by my walk with Edward and then bed.

Bed with Edward in it was a routine of its own. I was usually first in, he'd follow after half an hour. Any pillows I put between us ended up on the floor, so I stopped trying after the third night. I slept on the very edge of the bed on my side, he slept comfortably somewhere in the middle. As a result, I barely slept at night, usually sneaking out to the balcony after his breathing had deepened or sneaking a nap during the afternoon when I had the chamber to myself.

Other than the once a week meeting with Clan Leader, there had been no variation to this routine. I spoke to no-one, I kept to myself. Not that anyone really tried to approach me, the hostility and wariness hadn't worn off and I didn't fault anyone for it, I accepted it. I just got on with things and each day bled into the next, the same. I hadn't once ventured past the garden - and I hadn't once gone to Healer's.

Which, I suspected, was the reason I was being summoned now.

As we approached Healer's, the familiar scent of herbs, salves, ointments assailed my nostrils and I had to hold onto the wall to steady myself as a wave of giddiness washed over me.

"Cai Isabella?" The housestaff was looking at me in concern.

"I'm fine." I said, swallowing hard as the nausea threatened. "I know my way from here, Ala." I forced a smile and moved past him down the corridor until I heard him leave. Then I took the nearest side door out into the garden, inhaling deeply till the nausea and giddiness had receded.

Even if I'd wanted to Heal again, I couldn't.

"Healer Bella?"

I flinched as I heard the old name, turning to see Healer Joran approaching from the garden.

"Healer Joran." I greeted him. "I'm here to meet Healer Kate. Could you tell her I'm waiting here?"

"Why don't you come inside?" He asked, pushing open the door I'd just come through.

"It's fine, Healer. I'll wait here." I said evenly. He hesitated, then nodded and disappeared inside. I walked over to a bench and sat down.

"He'll be with you shortly." I turned as Joran returned, two mugs in hand, one of which he handed me. "How have you been?"

"Fine, Healer." I sipped from the mug, tasting the familiar flavour of a restorative tea. Immediately, the nausea threatened so I set the mug down on the bench next to me as casually as I could.

"Really." He said, his eyes kind on me.

"Really." I met his gaze.

"I'm glad to hear it. I actually planned to look for you - I wanted to ask for your help with something." He said, sipping from his mug.

"Yes?"

"I'm the Healer in charge of updating and adding tomes on Healing to the Clan Archives. I'm currently working on a tome of home remedies that Clan can make themselves for minor ailments and complaints. I'd love some help."

I looked down at my feet.

"I just need someone to write it all out from my notes. A scribe. If you have time." He said, leaning back.

I was about to reply, when Healer Kate arrived.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

Joran and I both stood.

"I will talk with you again." Joran said, smiling easily before leaving.

"Sit, please." Healer Kate gestured at the bench and I sat back down, with her sitting where Joran had been.

"How have you been, Healer Isabella?" She asked and I could feel her gaze on me. I was getting very tired of being gazed at like that.

"Fine, Healer Kate. And it's Isabella. Just Isabella." I felt compelled to correct her. I could not own the title of Healer when I was not Healing. Quite apart from the churning in my stomach every time I heard it.

"There is an old saying - you can't take the Healing from a Healer, any more than you can take the heat from fire." She sat back on the bench. "You are a Healer, whether you practice it or not - and whether you like it or not."

I begged to differ, but I didn't think arguing was going to get me anywhere.

"It's been three weeks since your arrival. You are settling in, I believe." She changed tack a little.

"Yes." I replied, looking down at the grass under my feet.

"You are exercising daily?"

"I am."

"How do you find your strength and fitness now?"

"Improved."

"Good."

She observed me quietly for a moment.

"I've asked you here today for a few reasons. First, you are due for a check up, it's been sometime since we monitored your health."

"Is that necessary?" I didn't want a check up.

"Routine, Isabella, after the kind of withdrawal you went through." She said gently. "We need to run some tests."

I nodded reluctantly.

"Second, the Council has made its decision with regards to the scent suppressant you created. The Healers have advised the Council that it's best the exact formula is never written down in any record or tome. All the vials we obtained from you have been destroyed, except for one that Healer Charis took with her for study. I thought you should be informed, as you might have been wondering." I inclined my head again, even though I hadn't thought about it at all. "This means that you will be the only person in the Clans with this knowledge. Any replication of the suppressant will be deemed your doing, linked back to you. You will have to take an oath before Council and submit a signed oath for the records." I almost laughed. Did they think I'd go out on a crusade to indoctrinate people?

"Thirdly, we would like you to join us at Healer's a few times a week. You can't stop being a Healer." She said, as I shook my head. "If you're worried about working under supervision, don't. It's a formality, it will be rescinded in a few months. It's to show the Clan that you aren't escaping the consequences of your actions, that's all."

"No." I said quietly.

"Why not?" She asked equally quietly. "You will have to provide a reason."

"I choose not to, that's all." I wasn't saying more on the subject.

"That's not good enough."

I didn't say anything. She sighed after a while.

"I will leave this for now. But you will have to face it at some point. You're too good a Healer to throw it away. As Chief Healer for the Clan, I can't allow it, not for the Clan's sake and not for yours."

She stood up and I rose slowly after her.

"Healer Tia is waiting to run your tests. Treatment room 5."

"I remember, Healer." She inclined her head at me and then strode away, leaving me to re-enter through the side door and make my way to the treatment room, hoping I wouldn't throw up.

OOOOOOOOOO

The petals showered down around me, like jewelled rain. I could feel them soft under my feet, velvet between my toes, their gentle fragrance mixing with the scent of the forest, earthy and green. I walked slowly, revelling in the sensation of my bare feet on this carpet of petals and grass. And then I gasped as I felt a sharp pain pierce one foot. Looking down, I saw blood begin pooling under my foot and the petals weren't petals at all, I was walking on a carpet of glass shards. I gasped again as I felt something sharp on my face and when I looked up, the petals showering down from the vines above were pieces of coloured glass. I tried to shield myself with my arms and began running for the trees, cutting my feet with every step. I was slipping suddenly in my own blood and crying out but there was no one to hear me and only the echoes to answer.

I jerked awake, heart pounding, wetness on my cheeks again. It took a moment for me to remember where I was. Chambers, on the bed, taking a nap after all the tests had been run. My heart rate began to normalise and I turned on my side, swinging my legs off the bed before wiping my cheeks and eyes and reaching for the water. My hand was shaking so much that I had to give up after two tries. I inhaled deeply and then stiffened.

I looked up sharply.

He was sitting on a chair opposite me, face unreadable.

I stood, abruptly brushed through the curtains and almost ran into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door. I caught sight of my face as I splashed cold water on it. I looked pale, dark circles under my eyes, haunted.

These dreams were really getting old.

I sank down on the floor, leaning against the wall, just sitting there, pushing the dream remnants away. After a while, I got up, did what I could to look less like a ghost and emerged from the bathroom, fully expecting him to have left.

He was sitting at the window seat in the alcove, waiting for me.

"Here." He held out a mug. "Elderflower cordial." I accepted it, glad my hands weren't shaking any more, and took a big gulp.

"Bad dreams?" He asked softly. I shrugged. "You were crying in your sleep."

"It's fine." I said, drinking more cordial.

"Does it often get that bad?" His voice was quiet.

"No." It was always like that.

"Liar." He murmured. I drained the mug.

"Isn't it time for dinner?" I said, setting the mug down and heading for the door. I was opening it when his arm reached around me to push it shut and then he had pulled me into his arms.

I stiffened instinctively, clamping down on my hormones as I was enveloped in his scent, but it wasn't that kind of embrace. He simply put his arms around me, one hand cradling my head as he stroked it soothingly and hugged me close, pulling my face against his chest.

I stayed stiff and unyielding in his arms.

"You aren't alone any more." He said gently. "You have me."

I broke free of his arms and yanked the door open.

OOOOOOOOOO

"I usually have soup, Ala." I murmured to the housestaff serving our table, looking down at the full plate she had just placed in front of me. "I think this plate may belong to someone else."

"It's yours." Tia said as she sat down, nodding at the housestaff who left with alacrity.

"Excuse me?"

"Your test results came back." Tia said, a trifle grimly, with a set to her jaw I'd never seen before. "Want me to tell you what they said?"

No. It was why I hadn't wanted a check up in the first place.

"I didn't think so." She indicated my plate. "You're to finish at least half of that. No more soups and broths."

I looked down at the plate as a sudden surge of anger washed through me. My hands clenched under the table. I willed myself to relax and picked up a fork. It was like swallowing grit and sand, every mouthful forced down my throat as I went about it mechanically, barely tasting any of it.

When I'd finished half of the plate, I put the fork down and wiped my mouth.

"Will that do?" I asked Tia.

"Bella, it's for your good." She said softly.

"Isabella." I said as I stood up. "It's Isabella."

For the first time since I'd arrived in Clanholme, I left the dining room early, walking out the doors before I began to run, reaching the bathroom in the chambers just in time. I couldn't fight it any longer, the nausea hit and I emptied everything I'd just eaten into the bowl.

Afterwards, I managed to crawl into the bed, closing my eyes against the dizziness and gradually falling into sleep.

OOOOOOOOOO

I was lying in a bed of petals, soft against my skin, staring up at the lattice of vines above me, the sound of the trickling stream tinkling somewhere nearby. More petals showered down and I closed my eyes as they fell on my face, my neck, my arms. I breathed in the fragrance of the flowers, mild and pleasant, and then frowned as it changed into a heady, intoxicating scent, wild, like the forest, one that had my skin rippling, my senses firing and need coursing through my blood.

I came awake, not with a jerk for once, but as if through a fog. Am I scenting Edward in my dreams now? I wondered groggily, attempting to turn on my back. Failing because of the arm that was draped around my waist.

My eyes flew open.

I was in his arms.

One of his arms was curved around my shoulder, the other around my waist. My head was on his shoulder, tucked in the crook of his neck, while his head rested on the top of mine, his breath gently ruffling my hair. My own arm was on his chest and our legs were tangled together.

I slowly looked up. He was asleep, his face beautiful in repose, strangely vulnerable. His breathing was even, he was sleeping deeply.

Gently, I extricated my legs from his and moved the arm that was around my waist, very slowly, so as to not wake him.

I was almost free when he shifted onto his side and reached his arm out, pulling me back into the warmth of his body, so that he was curved around my back. He tightened his grip around my waist and fit my head under his again.

"You're not going anywhere, mate." He murmured. He placed a soft kiss on my temple. "Sleep."

And, against my own will and expectation, I fell into the first proper sleep I'd had in a long time.


A/N: Thoughts?