Welcome back! Thank you so much to KittenAlice2, Ladysylphide, Tyra8888, Kyr, jlap . mypersonalfiles , Jesspots1704, Noee, Sharpeyes, and Myfanficaddiction, for reviewing my last chapter!
KittenAlice2, of course! I always adore being able to address my viewers whenever they do leave one. It's one of my favorite things about posting fanfiction! Yes, I wanted Bella to stand her ground a little bit with him. She's not just a regular human girl who can be just dazzled so easily into giving away her secrets anymore. She's been through traumatic experiences and has closed doors.
Ladysylphide, yes, they had realized that she poses a threat and are now feeling a bit standoffish. I'm glad you are enjoying the dynamic between the two! I'm enjoying putting my own little spin on their first interactions!
Tyra8888, I'm so sorry for the confusion! In MidnightSun when Edward goes to Alaska, him and Tanya have a conversation with each other where she mentions her sex life with humans. Edward calls her a succubus because that's kind of what the mythological version of a succubus does! So, no Tanya's not actually a succubus. Just a term he used to describe her behavior!
jlap . mypersonalfiles, (had to put a space between your user because fanfiction saw it as a link and kept deleting your name.) love cliffhangers! I have a lot of my outline written for the next few chapters, but Jacob is something I have been fickle about because of the timeline and what could happen in different scenarios that would still follow the rules and guidelines of Twilight. So, that's as much of a mystery for me as it is for you!
Noee, and Jesspots1704, thank you for the review as always! I find myself having a little more time to write. Not much, but a little bit! Hope you are pleased with what follows the cliffhangers!
Sharpeyes, Yes. I try to make my chapters at least 7,000 words, (except the prologue and chapter 1) Last chapter was a couple hundred over 10,000. So, I used some parts of your review and re-edited the last chapter just a little bit so that it would fit with what I had already written. I gave you credit at the end of the scene so that newer readers know to check out your review! And had left a notice at the end of this chapter, as well. Thank you, I liked your idea a lot!
Myfanficaddiction, yay! You made it back! I'm glad you enjoyed the banter between the two of them and how they are both curious about each other. Yes, Billy has now forbade Bella from coming back. And you are absolutely correct that Bella is still learning more about herself. She is having to do this all this on her own, so she frequently is surprised by her own self and still lacks confidence in her new life unfortunately. In Breaking Dawn when she was turned into a vampire, she already had previous knowledge and others around her to share that new chapter of her life with, so she was prepared and ready for anything, unlike now. I hope you are pleased with the events following the cliffhanger!
All rights to the characters and Twilight Saga go to Stephenie Meyer. Enjoy!(:
Edward had lifted himself up from his crouch. Blood had dripped from the corners of his mouth as he wiped it off with his sleeve. There lying by his feet was a deer that clearly had been drained of its blood. Drained lifeless.
"Vampire," I whispered in a silent gasp.
Chapter 8: Doctor's Note
Edward's body became almost stiff and rigid as he cocked his head to the side with his ear upwards towards my direction. I widened my eyes, holding my breath in, reluctant to not let it escape. I knew my scent was hidden, so him trying to follow that would be useless for him. Though, he had heard my soft whispers, so he had caught my general direction. He never looked my way, but as his body tensed less, I could see a crooked smile form at the edges of his lips.
I didn't move, not just yet. He knew I was here watching him and all he did was just smile? Was he not bothered at my realization of what he was? Was he not paranoid that I had just followed him and had seen him drinking from a deer?
He leaned over, grabbing the deer carcass by its front legs and began dragging it through the trees until he had disappeared into the darkness.
"You have your answer, Bella. I expect some from you in return in due time," I heard him say from shadows. I jumped at his voice, having to rebalance myself on the branch. He expects answers from me. It wasn't as if he told me what he was—I had to do that myself and catch him in the act. Unless this is what he wanted. Maybe he had possibly came into my room tonight and had purposely made it known that he was there in hopes that I would end up tracking his scent and finding him. If not, maybe he just didn't care that I had seen what he had done. He had said it would be entertaining to see if I could figure it out. What kind of sick twisted game was he playing? Was I now the losing pawn and he had drawn the winning move?
I wasn't going to keep myself perched in the trees and dwindle myself into a series of questions I had no answers to. I leaned forward from the branch and leaped from it, falling quickly to the ground and landing on the soles of my boots. I went towards the shadows where I had last heard his voice and followed his scent along with it. I took off in a run, zig-zagging my way through the trees in the irregular pattern that he had taken.
"Edward?" I called out. I started spinning in circles as the rain began to drastically trickle down, dampening the air and the forest floor. It was causing his scent to stale and drift away as the rain puddled. I pulled the hood over my head, blocking the rain from hitting my hair. "Edward!" I shouted. I looked in multiple directions, squinting into the darkness. There were many silhouettes of trees and small critters running on the ground trying to find dry areas to lay rest in. "This isn't funny, you know!"
"It's a tad amusing," I heard him say from behind me. I rapidly turned around, seeing him leaned against the trunk of a tree with his arms crossed. The liquid gold in his eyes was more vibrant now. He had that crooked half smile that only brought me hiccupped gasps. I closed my eyes, breathing steadily. I slowly opened them to see that he hadn't moved from his position, but his eyebrow was cocked.
"Vampire," I stated. "That's what you are, right?" I asked with a slight panic in my voice as I slowly took a few steps back from him. He was much faster than me, and I didn't want to find out if he was stronger.
He chuckled at the tone in my voice. "Yes," he eyed me curiously. "And… you're afraid?" He said slowly, trying to understand my actions.
"No," I replied, shaken. His eyebrows furrowed at my response. He glided his tongue on his bottom lip and breathed in to say something else as he was contemplating his thought, but he halted his unsaid statement. "No, I'm not afraid."
"Your mysterious beating heart says otherwise," he replied furrowing his eyebrows more. Shit. I inhaled slow breaths again, trying to calm the increasing pulse. "It's good to be afraid, Bella. I would be worried if you were not. Being frightened shows that you have some sort of self-preservation."
"You know nothing about me," I hissed at him, taking another step back away from him. I wanted to lunge at him, rip that perfect head by his perfectly unkempt hair right off his body, but my mind wouldn't let my body go anywhere closer to him.
I thought I told you to run, parvulis. I flinched at the words of the subconscious monster that was interfering with my turmoiled mind. Edward looked curiously at my movements, acknowledging my footwork and sudden flinch.
"You are correct, I do know nothing about you. You seem to try your best to avoid me at all cost, so I had to collect my own details about you," he chuckled.
"Like following me out of town, and going through my emails?" I sneered at him.
He chuckled, "Ah, as if you haven't been the one to invade privacy and follow someone out of town before. Alaska comes to mind." He laughed out the breaths in his lungs, grinning at the hypocrisy. He was right.
"You knew," I stated. Though, I already knew that information. He made it clear with his subtleness in the classroom.
"Wasn't too difficult to figure out. It was strange, I must admit, that your scent was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing a gift of yours. Evasion possibly?" How had he known this about me? Was this an occurrence that he had come across before? "To answer that question of yours, no. You just seem to have the means of being able to escape easily, and hiding your scent seems to be beneficial to you."
"What, can you read minds or something?" I laced my question with sarcasm and a hint of curiosity, but I still felt enraged with him. He smirked at my question, but his lips flattened when he continued to process his thoughts. He began sliding his back down further down the tree until he was sitting on the damp forest floor. It seemed he was trying to make himself less threatening by being in such a vulnerable position. It didn't work. I wasn't sure if he was a threat.
"Yes, actually," he finally put his thoughts into words with his crooked smile. "But not yours. You're very difficult to read." He narrowed his eyes at me, "It's as if you're not there. But," he paused. "I can at least anticipate some things you would say based on your anatomical responses."
My mom had always told me she could read me like an open book. Damn him.
"So, you can read minds," I breathed through the words. "But not mine." It sounded ridiculous saying that out loud. No one can read minds, that's just crazy to even believe. Then again, who could drain energy? Who could shapeshift into wolves? The wolves. "You know about them, don't you?"
"Like you confirmed, I cannot read your mind. Would you please reiterate that sentence?"
"The wolves. You know about them, correct?"
"If I'm being completely honest, I was just recently notified that they were of existence again. We had run into them in the past decades ago, but there was no reason to believe their gene line continued, until now." I nodded at his words. His mouth pursed to the side of his face as he narrowed his eyes at me. "And you know of them, too."
"Yes," I replied. "I think they want to kill me."
"I don't suspect so far that they want to kill you, but of course they have every reason to be hostile towards you. They have been unfavorable towards my kind for years." He clicked his tongue at the roof of his mouth. "Vampires and wolves, or so-called shapeshifters is the correct term for them, are mortal enemies. They are sworn to protect humans and their people from us."
"And what am I to them?" I asked.
"Something they don't know of. Something they are curious about," he smiled looking down at the ground, fiddling with a broken twig in his fingers. "My family and I find ourselves in the same predicament as them."
I hesitated, "I don't trust you."
"Good," he replied, turning the end of his lip upwards as he flicked the broken twig into the darkness. "Because I don't trust you, either, Bella. I don't find myself trusting things that I do not understand, and you seem to be one of those things."
I breathed in, looking down at the ground, flexing my fingers repeatedly. "But you find me fascinating," I thought of the word he had used towards me in Alaska. "And you seem to be able to read my facial expressions well enough to tell you everything you need to know."
He chuckled, "Yes, so you've heard… and not everything." In a quick motion that I had not been able to foresee in his movements, he had grabbed me, and had softly pushed my back against a tree with his body towering over me and his hands placed on either side, blocking me from escaping. He narrowed his eyes at me, lifting my chin upwards. I darted my eyes past his shoulder into the darkness, taking in the sights of the owl that had flown away from our interaction. "And that amethyst hue is awfully curious." He had a strand of my hair lightly placed in between his thumb and index finger, slightly grazing it with his thumb.
I could feel the electricity beginning to spark between us. It was radiating over his skin and my own where it had touch and caused me to gasp. What was this? I held in my breath, trying to force away the decadent honey scented energy that was pooling from his breath. He seemed bothered by the spark too as he hissed in a breath of air and looked away from me.
"I'm not giving anything away to you," I hesitantly spat at him.
"I didn't expect you to," he said, gritting his teeth together and forcing his eyes closed. He had loosened his arm against the tree, letting me out of his cage. I quickly moved away from him to the tree opposite of us. I pressed my hand against my chest, trying to hold onto the rapidly beating heart that seemed to not want to stop. I was afraid of him. I didn't know what to think of him after seeing him crouched over a deer, consuming its blood.
"Go," he commanded towards me with gritted teeth. "Get out of here." He placed his forehead against the bark and his fingers gripped into the trunk of the tree. It was strange that his whole demeanor had changed in that moment. As if he was in pain.
I slouched my back against the tree further, studying his behavior while I still clutched my hand against my chest. I needed to find confidence in myself— confidence in my voice. "Did you go in my room on purpose so that I would find you here?"
He turned his neck quickly. His eyebrows were furrowed at me with his lips pulled back, exposing his gritted teeth. His eyes were now glossed with the color of onyx. He continued to stare at me, but his chest wasn't quaking with rapid breaths. He was holding it in. He clenched his eyes closed and turned his head back to the tree, and then let out the air he was holding in his lungs. "Possibly. Now, go." His tone was harsh, but I wasn't going to hesitate anymore towards his command. I walked forward away from the tree, briefly locking my eyes on his body, staring at the ripples of the muscles in his back that continued to contract, and then I took off in a run.
I jumped through my window, closing it behind me quickly and turned the lock tight. I was breathing rapidly, with my chest pounding and my pulse repeatedly drumming in my ears. I turned around, holding my balance against the windowsill ledge trying to calm myself down.
"What the hell just happened," I said to myself. My mind felt fuzzy from all the new information that goes on in the world that people don't know of. Could succubi get headaches? I clasped my cool wet fingers against my forehead and paced around the room.
"Edward is a vampire," I whispered to myself. "Sam and Jared are wolves—or well, shapeshifters. They both are mortal enemies and I am something they are curious about?" I asked, darting my eyes back and forth as I continued pacing. "But they don't want to kill me… at least not yet. And Edward Cullen can read minds but not mine." I paused. "That's good," I nodded to myself. "Very good." I continued. "But they both have now seen my eyes, oh god! They are going to figure it out!" I moaned. "Was that such a terrible thing, though? If they knew they would leave me alone, right? I'm a lunatic. I'm talking to myself out loud in wet clothes, pacing my room, and my mind is too messed up for even Edward Cullen to be able to read. I'm a lunatic," I then halted my pacing, and paused. "But, would they kill me if they were to find out what I've done?"
I hadn't gotten well enough sleep last night through the tossing and turning horror of dreams. I was lucky to have been able to fall asleep at all, considering the amount of turmoil of brain activity that continued to cross my mind.
But my room was illuminated slightly as light streamed through my window. It was still the gray-green light of a cloudy day in the forest, but it was clearer somehow. I realized there was no fog veiling my window. I jumped up to look outside, and then noticed the fine layer of snow covered the yard, dusted the top of my truck, and whitened the road. I sighed at the sight. I had missed the warm days and the cloudless skies of Phoenix. A day like this would've had schools closed, but now here. Not in Forks.
All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid — coating the needles on the trees in fantastic, gorgeous patterns, and making the roads gloss over with ice. This was going to be possibly a rough day for my truck. The tires were going bald, and I knew that I would possibly need to drive slowly down the road to avoid any possible collisions if someone were to brake in front of me.
Charlie had already left for work by the time I had gotten downstairs. My throat was feeling a tad more uncomfortable today. I needed something creamy to sooth and coat the epithelial layers of it, so I had decided to open a packet of artificially flavored blueberry oatmeal and put it into the microwave after adding milk and water to it.
I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration at the thought of what was to come during school today. I would have to face him again in biology after what had occurred in the woods last night. He had seemed friendly enough, possibly a little mischievous when he spoke to me, but instantly a darkened pain veiled over his features as he told me to go. What had I possibly done to upset him so much? I was the one who should have been upset with him. He had followed me out of town on Friday and had come into my bedroom and snooped through my emails. Who does that? Another thought had come to mind when I flashed my thoughts towards his body crouched over the dead carcass of a deer. I thought vampires had a thirst for human blood.
Beep, Beep, Beep.
I looked over at the counter realizing that I had forgotten that I had oatmeal in the microwave. I didn't stir it halfway through the heating process and worried I had possibly scorched it.
I ran upstairs after finishing the oatmeal which had flawlessly coated the inside of my throat, suppressing the urging tingle that had been bothering me since yesterday. I got dressed in clothes that were appropriate for the weather that today would endure, except for my rain boots that I decided to toss into my closet.
When I got downstairs and headed outside, the crisp moisturized air filled into my nostrils, causing a pleasurable soothing effect to cascade through my lungs. The brick driveway was icy, so I took a step down the porch steadily and found my planted feed had begun sliding down the driveway. I balanced myself easily as I made my way to my truck carefully. Before I had opened my truck door, I had immediately noticed something was different about my truck where something silver had caught my eye. There were snow chains wrapped around the tires. Charlie must have done that this morning before he had left. I wasn't used to being taken care of, especially not since my transformation. I've been on my own for months now, so Charlie's unspoken concern caught me by surprise.
The truck drove down the road with no trouble, but I couldn't say the same for some of the other drivers trying to pull into their parking spots when they had swayed back and forth. Most of the cars here had proper tires for the conditions that Forks brought. It was no surprise that this was a normal weather condition in a cold and wet town.
I was thoroughly filled with wonder to notice Mike, Eric and Ethan weren't waiting for me at my truck like they normally had. Eric had stopped coming around so often, but usually Mike and Ethan were reluctant to greet me before I had made it into a parking spot. When I had pulled my truck into park, I looked out the window, noticing that Mike and Ethan were standing next to the front doors of the school and talking to Jessica, Lauren, and another girl I didn't recognize. Maybe they had finally looked the other way from me and that my existence was no longer drawing them in. I sighed in relief.
I looked back over to them one more time and grabbed my book bag strap to pull it over my shoulder and hopped out of the truck, wincing at the unbearable sound of the metal grinding on metal when the door had reluctantly squealed open. I stepped out, balancing myself on the icy parking lot. It seemed the staff at the school had done their best to pour salt throughout it, but had left some areas bare, especially on this side of it.
I walked towards the back of my truck to examine the snow chains again, examining the baldness of the tires. Maybe this could be an excuse to see Jacob, again. He could help change the tires for me. He was a mechanic building a car of his own so I'm sure he would know what kind of tires I needed for it. I had felt terrible for not being around since his birthday party and leaving so abruptly, but I had no other choice. I was dangerous to him at that moment and that was something I couldn't deny.
I looked up, noticing Edward and Alice were leaning against the Volvo with their lips moving so fast that I had trouble deciphering what they were saying. The loud commotion in the parking lot made it hard to hear.
I flattened my lips together, narrowing my eyes at them trying my best to listen in on their conversation until I heard a high-pitched screech, and it was fast, becoming painfully loud as the vibrations of the sound had begun to irritatingly chime against my eardrums. I hissed at it. I looked over towards the sound that the rest of the students had their shocked faces latched onto. There was a dark blue van that was skidding with its tires locked and squealing against the brakes, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. With the trajectory that I had quickly planned out in my mind, I could see the van was on its way to collide with the side of my truck. I quickly turned my body around and lunged forward towards the front of my truck to easily escape before the impact would come to me.
But I was stopped when a cold solid body had collided into mine, his face panicked as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me further with him, and down to the ground from the impact of our bodies. I could hear the shattering crunch of the van folding around the truck bed as my head had involuntarily collided against the icy blacktop asphalt of the parking lot. I winced at the feeling of the back of my head having been punctured with a piece of gravel that was sticking up out of the ice. I knew I could get wounded, but I healed rather quickly.
"Fuck!" Edwards hissed through his teeth. His hand had been wrapped around my waist and his body was hovering mine, holding me down against the ground as I looked up at the horror struck in his face as he looked at me. He had pulled his hand from my waist, letting the rest of my body drop to the ground. I looked over as he threw his hands out and caught onto the side of the van. I lifted my head up, hearing the denting metal that rattled in my ears. The force of the impact had hurled his body back, but I quickly had moved my arm forward grabbing onto his shoulder before his body could impact against the parked car beside my truck. The inertia that pulled on his form had caused my own body to fall forward on top of him as his back had landed against the asphalt. The van had shuddered and swayed as it was trying to rebalance itself on its two far tires.
My lean body was pressed against his cold solid frame and my face was placed against the crook of his neck with my palm against his chest. I lifted my head up to look at him and had noticed he had his hand placed against the back of my skull. His eyes had turned from the crisp liquid gold into the hardened onyx black as he had lifted his hand away from the back of my head. I could feel the wound on my skull already healing as our bodies stilled against each other, but I could smell it. I could smell my blood from behind me. I quickly turned my head, seeing the raspberry shade of my blood on the palm of his hand.
"Edward?" I asked, hearing others around us beginning to scream at the sight of what had happened. I pushed myself away from him, but he quickly had latched his other arm around me, holding me against him. He held his eyes closed shut with his head tilted to the side, breathing in the scent of the icy asphalt. "Edward," I winced at his fingers that were digging into my skin with only my sweater separating the both. He must have been attracted to the scent of my blood and was trying to distract himself with other smells. He then ceased breathing entirely and had opened his eyes, blinking. He quickly, but gently had switched our positions and laid me on my back against the asphalt.
"Pretend to be hurt," he said as he sat down, leaning against his back against the door of my truck.
"Why the hell did you do that?" I hissed at him. "I can handle myself."
He held his finger up to his lips and motioned his head towards the crowd of people that were coming towards the wreck. He looked down at his hand that was stained with my blood, moving it back and forth, inspecting it. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking back at me.
"Are you alright?" He whispered.
"Of course, I'm alright."
"You hit your head— you were bleeding," he sounded more concerned but held a questionable expression.
"I'm not completely indestructible," I replied softly as I could hear the students finally reaching us. A crowd of people with tears streaming down their faces, shouting at each other, shouting at us.
"Don't move," someone instructed.
"Get Tyler out of the van!" someone else shouted.
There was a flurry of activity around us. I tried to get up, but Edward's cold hand had moved towards me in a quick motion and had pushed my shoulder down.
"Don't move," he instructed, sharply.
It took six EMTs and two teachers — Mr. Varner and Coach Clapp — to shift the van far enough away from us to bring the stretchers in. Edward vehemently refused his as he began to stand up. I tried to do the same, but the damn vampire told them I'd hit my head and probably had a concussion.
"I'm fine! I don't need to go to the hospital," I hissed in his ear as he helped me get up off the ground when it was the appropriate time to do so.
"Please, Bella." He replied with melting velvet. "Just to keep appearances, I need you to follow instructions. My father is a doctor at the hospital, so I will make sure they send you to only him."
"Why do I have to go and not you?" I asked, annoyed at him.
I could see the corners of his mouth slightly raise but then dissipate. "Because I wasn't the one laying on the ground."
The jerk did this on purpose. It was going to be either me or him that needed to go to the hospital, and he had volunteered me. I had felt more frustrated with him when he had nodded at the EMTs to put a neck brace on me as if there was any reason that I would need it. I knew I would have had to look ridiculous in front of my peers and that I would be just another topic at school again. It was maddening when Edward had been allowed to ride in the front seat of the ambulance.
To make matters worse, Chief Swan arrived before they could get me safely away.
"Bella!" he yelled in panic when he recognized me on the stretcher.
"I'm completely fine, Char — Dad," I said, frustratingly. "There's nothing wrong with me."
He turned to the closest EMT for a second opinion. I tuned him out when I noticed his family was looking on from the distance. They didn't look so happy with what had unfolded in the parking lot between Edward and me.
The ambulance had a police escort on the way to the hospital. I felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloading me. I was fine. I was completely healed in the matter of seconds as if nothing had happened in the first place. My skull was in impeccable shape, there was no dripping blood as the drops that were stained in the roots of my hair had soaked back into the wound in my skull. Taking me to the hospital was unreasonable. If they had only checked me out in the parking lot, they would have known that, but Charlie had been imperative about his decision on me allowing the ambulance to take me there.
When I saw Edward had hopped out of the front seat of the ambulance, he walked over to the EMT nearest to me and instructed him to tell the nurse to take me directly into a separate room with Dr. Carlisle Cullen which they had complied to.
Edward had followed the EMTs that were pushing my stretcher into the emergency room. They told the nurse that I would be needing a separate room specifically and to only see Dr. Carlisle Cullen and no one else. The nurse had raised her eyebrow and looked at me but grabbed a clipboard on her desk and told them to follow her.
The room was smaller than the ones that we had passed by, and the light in the room could almost give you a migraine. The EMTs had quickly transferred my body onto the lone hospital bed and shuffled out the door. The nurse had asked Edward to step out of the room but had flashed her a crooked grin that I could almost see her legs fall numb to. He told her that Carlisle was his father and he was going to wait on him with me. She looked at me again, but then set her eyes back onto Edward before she turned out of the room.
When I had felt that no one else was going to come back into the room any time soon, I sat myself up on the bed and immediately dug my fingers around the neck brace, pulling at the Velcro and slinging it across the room. I didn't pay any attention to Edward. I was furious at him for trying to act heroic in the parking lot, but I could hear his faint chuckles when he looked over at the neck brace that had collided against the wall.
"Really put on a good show, there."
"Ha. Ha." I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes. I leaned my back against the pillow of the hospital bed, trying to make myself as comfortable as possible in the most uncomfortable situation I was in. "Why the hell would you do that?"
"Do what?" he asked, innocently trying to hide behind the question.
"Why the hell did you come after me, causing this whole mess? I was already prepared to get out of the crashing zone until you had decided to attack me!"
"It was purely out of instinct," he looked towards the door. He must have been listening in on someone's thoughts.
"Your instinct was to save a girl who was capable of taking care of herself?"
"If you had ran out of the way, people would have noticed it was almost inhuman to have been able to do so in such a quick moment."
"And you don't think they were thinking the same thing when you suddenly appeared next to me?"
"They weren't thinking that at all," he smiled tapping his finger against the temple of his head. How much more frustrating could this guy be? I scoffed at him and decided to ignore him further until his dad could emit me from the hospital.
Edward's head perked up again at the door when I noticed Carlisle had opened it, strolling his way through the door, and closing it behind him gently with a clipboard in his hand. I had recognized him from when I had been spying on them from the trees only a couple of weeks ago. Ugh, I guess I really was no better than Edward when it came to invading privacy.
"Ms. Swan," Carlisle greeted me before he briefly exchanged a look with Edward. Edward had shrugged but held a tight smile. "I hear you had found yourself in quite an accident."
"Yeah, that your infuriating son had been the cause of," I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest.
Carlisle shyly grinned at me with a knowing nod. "I heard you had hit your head against the asphalt in the parking lot. I had advised against using X-rays on you because I wasn't too…" he paused before he continued to speak. He looked down at the clipboard and clicked his tongue at the roof of his mouth with an uncomfortable smile on his face. "Well, let's just say we wouldn't want anything unordinary to come up." Would something unordinary come up? Had my internal anatomy been changed when I was turned? I knew my blood wasn't the same, nor was my skin as breakable as it was before. It could be wounded with the right amount of force, but it easily would heal as fast as it had been inflicted upon.
I looked over at Edward who held a questionable look on his face as he was trying to investigate and debunk the facial expressions that were forming on my own face as I continued to form thoughts.
"Um," I said, sucking my lips in between my teeth. I darted my eyes back and forth at the both of them, relieving myself of those thoughts and questions about my own makeup. I hated those machines and I was glad to not have to go through them. If there was anything unordinary that would pop up, I wouldn't want to know. I was still already trying to get used to the changes that were of my new life, and anything different could easily have set me off. "Am I able to go back to school now?"
He looked over at Edward and then back to me again. "I think it would be best if you miss the rest of the day and take an easy day at home, just for the sake of appearances. It would be," he paused trying to think of the right words to say, "normal for someone to have a sense of feeling trauma and whiplash from an experience like that."
"I think you know by now, Dr. Cullen, that I'm not normal," I replied.
He flattened a smile on his face in humor. "Yes, I believe I do. But, if I may ask of you, could I possibly do a physical evaluation on you?"
I widened my eyes.
"As in, could I take a look at the back of your skull and see into what had happened?"
"Oh," I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with that, but I oddly felt least threatened by him than I had been of the others that had crossed my path so far. I nodded at him and scooted myself forwards on the hospital bed, away from the head of it. I sat my body up straight for him and he had walked over to the side of the hospital bed where Edward was standing. I looked to my left at the wall and was waiting for Carlisle to begin inspecting it. His fingers held a comforting cold chill to them as he gently pulled the hair away, resting the thickness of it against my shoulder. He ran his fingers against my scalp trying to find any abnormalities.
"Edward, you said there was blood?" Carlisle asked. Edward only nodded at him. "There doesn't seem to be any stain of that."
"I heal," I reminded him.
"Yes, I can see that, but it doesn't seem that there was any blood loss at all."
"Er, that's not really something that I can fully explain medical wise," I said, still staring at the wall. "I have noticed that whenever my skin does break, whatever blood has spilled out around it, seems to filter its way back into the wound, and then the wound completely heals."
"Interesting," Carlisle says, still rubbing his fingertip against the scalp trying to find where the wound would have been. "I hate to impose, but would you possibly allow me to run a blood test on you? Not here, of course. I wouldn't want the tests to run through the hospital system, but I could conduct them myself with equipment I can take home."
"I'm not really comfortable with coming to your house," I said, trying to sound kind about it. Edward had let out a roared laugh at my comment. In my peripheral view, I could see Edward ruffling his hands through his hair and turning around, taking a few steps. I could feel heat radiating through my cheeks, burning with crimson. I understood why he was laughing.
"Very well, I understand." I turned my head to look at him, identifying the features on his face from this close range. He looked so young, so youthful, with his perfectly brushed hair as it barely touched his ears, but dark circles were formed under his eyes. He looked so tired. I liked him. His eyebrows had furrowed at me when he noticed I was inspecting his face. I could see him casually look over at Edward who had nodded his head at him.
I grumbled, "Stop that." I said, gripping my fingers in the sheets of the hospital bed. "Please don't talk about me in that way when I'm perfectly sitting in the same room with the both of you. You can say what you're thinking out loud."
Carlisle's mouth pushed to the side of his face when he glanced back at me. "I apologize, it has become a habit over the years." Over the years? How old could these vampires be? "I was just asking Edward about your eyes."
"Oh?" I asked, looking suspiciously at Edward. "He hasn't already told you?" Did Edward not tell him about the amethyst he had seen only last night? Had he withheld that information from his father and his family? Why would he want to do that if he was desperately trying to figure out what I was? Why withhold information that they could use collectively to come up with an idea?
"No," he softly grinned. "He has not. Would you mind telling me?" He asked. Edward had already known, and I had an odd form of trust for Carlisle more than I had for Edward. It wouldn't harm anything if I were to tell him.
"Well. As Edward had already seen from yesterday and last night… I wear dark contacts to cover up the color of my eyes," I looked away from the both of them. "They are quite alarming in color without the contacts, so I thought it would be best to wear them around people."
"And they are not red," Carlisle confirmed. The wolves had mentioned that color before the other week. Why would they be red? I formed a questioning look on my face at him but then looked away.
"No, luckily not, though I wouldn't call the hue of mine to be lucky, either," I exhaled a breathy chuckle.
"Charlie's at the door waiting on us," Edward interrupted. I looked up at the door seeing Charlie with his work phone pressed against his ear. He looked frustrated while he rubbed his fingers over his eyes and had scrunched his face up in irritation. He briefly glanced through the small glass window of the door and then returned to his conversation on the phone.
"Yes, I will be there as soon as I can. Bella is in the hospital right now getting checked by Dr. Cullen. — Yes, yes. I'll be there soon."
Edward's face looked slightly torn. "What? What is it?" I asked.
Edward shook his head, flexing his fingers. "I'm not sure. Your father's mind seems almost as silent as yours. I can only get brief words from him. His mind doesn't form completely coherent sentences or thoughts."
"You're reading my father's mind?" I scoffed at him. "Could you not? That seems irritatingly nosey and nothing of your business."
"It's nothing that I do on purpose," he replied.
"Maybe we should let the Chief come in and see his daughter," Carlisle said, backing away from me and turning to Edward as he placed his hand on his upper arm. He had glided Edward to the other side of the room and paced towards the door, opening it for him. "Hello, Chief Swan, nice to see you again. Come in, Bella should be ready for you now."
Charlie nodded at him and Carlisle had padded the back of Charlie's shoulder blade causing him to shiver. He looked over at me, but he had seemed partially distracted.
"Hey, Bells," he breathed out a heavy sigh of relief. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I told you and the EMTs earlier, I'm fine," I said hopping off the bed.
"Edward said she hit her head on the ground," He said in a worried tone looking over at Carlisle. "So, she doesn't have a concussion?" Charlie asked.
"No, she should be fine, but I would advise for her to take it easy for the rest of the day and get some rest," Carlisle replied. Edward walked forward, away from the farther side of the room. He held a friendly grin on his face as he approached Charlie with his hand held outwards to him.
"Hello, Chief Swan. Sorry to see you again under another set of unfortunate pretenses," Edward greeted him. Charlie took his hand and let out a heavy sigh. He flinched when he had registered the icy touch of Edward's.
"Unfortunate, yeah," Charlie had agreed, shaking his head uncomfortably. His phone started ringing in his gun belt and he shut his eyes, and grumbled gibberish under his breath.
"Something wrong?" I asked, looking up at him.
"Just something that's going on with work right now," Charlie sighed. "The friends of yours down on the reservation had found something."
"Found something?" I asked. Jacob and his buddies had found something? Edward had taken a step back, crossing his arms. He furrowed his eyebrows in frustration—probably trying to make sense of Charlie's thoughts.
"Yeah, nothing for you to worry about, Bells. I'll get you home, but I think I'll have to miss dinner. Might be working all night." He said looking at me with apologetic eyes. The V-shape that formed between Edward's eyebrows had softened as he walked forward again.
"I can take her home for you, Chief Swan," Edward said. "I can have one of my siblings drive her truck back to the house."
"You can call me Charlie, kid," Charlie said, forcing a half smile on his face to mask his frustration. "That'll save me some time, actually, if that is alright with you, Bella.'
"No!" I disagreed. "And I don't need one of your siblings driving anything of mine. I don't have a concussion and there is nothing wrong with me, so I can safely drive my own truck home."
Carlisle cleared his throat to break the tension in the room. "I'll go ahead and let the nurse know to give you a doctor's note on your way out," Carlisle briefly looked at Charlie and me and glanced back at Edward, placing his hand on his shoulder. "I'll see you at home when I finish my work here," he said and took the moment to exit through the door into the hall.
"Alright, kid. I'm glad you're fine. I'm surprised you made it out based on the looks of the scene." Charlie lightly chuckled with worry. "Let's go ahead and get your truck."
Edward didn't look at me but only at Charlie. "I promise it is not a problem. You go ahead and get back to the station, sir." Edward smirked at me but then his appearance looked slightly cold. "It seems they really need you, and if I'm able to clear time for you, I'd be happy to take her home."
Charlie looked at me with a raised eyebrow, "Bells, it would really help me out if you took his offer" he said apologetically. "Will that be alright with you?"
I didn't want to argue anymore about it and get in the way of Charlie's job. I nodded at him stubbornly. Charlie raised the end of his mouth and gave me a side hug. "Thanks, kid. I'll see you in the morning."
"Thanks for the snow chains," I replied. I looked up at Charlie whose face had reddened with an embarrassed blush. He cleared his throat and nodded at Edward, heading out the door.
"I'm walking home," I said stubbornly, turning on my heels and walked away from him towards the exit, but Edward had already made it there before me, blocking the way out. "Just when I thought you couldn't be any more frustrating…" I grumbled.
"I promised your father that I would take you to your truck," He said, raising his eyebrow. "Besides, I'm very curious as to why the wolves have found a body buried near the river on their territory. Would you know anything about that?" I sucked in a breath of air, looking down at his shoes. Oh shit.
Lie, Juvenalis.
I recovered my composition quickly and looked back up at him. "No, of course I wouldn't, unless it had something to do with you and your family." I shoved my shoulder against him and grabbed the handle on the door, opening it. Edward had followed suit behind me down the hall. I didn't turn around to look in his direction.
I walked up to the front desk seeing the woman typing on her computer. "Hello," I greeted her, with a tone of frustration. "Dr. Carlisle said he had left me a doctor's note?" I asked. She looked up from her computer and smiled at me.
"Yes, sorry. What's your name, sweetie?" She asked. Her voice held warmth and kindness, but she looked like she had been on call the previous night.
I looked over at Edward, narrowing my eyes at him, but then back to the woman at the desk. "Isabella Marie Swan," I said shyly, tightening my eyes closed in hopes that Edward wouldn't remember it. I liked my name well enough; I just didn't care for Edward to know it.
"Of course," She turned in her swivel chair and pulled herself to the other side of the desk, taking a file with my name and opened it—retrieving the note. She swiveled herself back to the middle of the desk and handed it to me.
"Is this gentleman discharging you?" She asked, glancing at Edward with gawking eyes. I rolled my own. I didn't dare argue with her because I was a minor at the hospital. I knew I would need to leave with someone, and that Carlisle or Charlie possibly already had told her that I would be leaving with him. I nodded at her and took the slip. I turned around and headed to the glass front doors and walked out to the parking lot, moving out of the way of the ambulance zone.
"Do you not need a doctor's note?" I asked him, but he had shrugged causing me to feel more begrudged with him. "You can leave now," I said, walking away.
"And you would go behind Charlie's back and walk home after a dead body was found?" He asked me with a sarcastic tone.
"Fine," I grumbled. I looked around at the parking lot and slowed down my pace to a stop when I didn't see a Volvo. "Where is your car?"
"I rode in the ambulance. I didn't bring my car," He smiled and followed forward past me. I didn't move and only stared at him. He stopped his footing and looked behind his shoulder at me. "Are you coming?"
"And go behind Charlie's back and walk home after a dead body was found?" I imitated him.
"I only told him I would take you home. I never said I would be driving," he chuckled. "I'm surprised Charlie didn't remember that I rode in the ambulance with you, but I suppose it was just my luck."
"Luck is for suckers," I muttered and walked forward towards him. He continued forward, taking shorter strides than my own long ones.
"So, you want to tell me more about that body?" He asked, looking down at me as we continued our pace.
"Why are you so sure it was me?" I snapped at him.
"I never said it was, just asked if you wanted to tell me about it," he replied. I ignored him and crossed my arms. "But if you had something to do with it, then I would advise you to tell me considering that the wolves are probably already suspicious of you."
"And where did you come up with that idea?"
"They called us about your little scuffle with them, which I might that I was a little surprised. Such a small girl with a beating heart who took down two large wolves, not to mention, had crushed a rib cage," he chuckled. "Carlisle had to convince them to allow him to help break the bones and reset them into place."
"He did what?" My jaw gaped. "I thought you said vampires and wolves were mortal enemies. Why would Carlisle want to help?"
"Carlisle isn't exactly fond of expressing dislike to anyone. He is very open minded and has the commitment to help others who need it." He looked away with disappointment and anguish in his eyes. "Haven't you questioned yourself why a vampire would want to work in a hospital?"
I blinked at him, rolling my jaw back and forth. "I actually hadn't even questioned the idea."
"Well, that story is for another time," he replied with a nod. "The wolves had felt unmistakably threatened by you."
"They were in their human form," I added.
"Doesn't make them any less strong, just slower," he reiterated.
"I had nothing to do with it," I growled at him, getting back to the point about the dead hiker. He looked at me questionably and then expressed an 'Ah' when he realized what I had meant. He held his hands up in the air, with that crooked grin on his face.
"I believe you," He lied. "Can I ask you another question?"
"I don't think I've had the opportunity to ask you anything that you have given me an answer to," I replied looking at the car that passed by us on the road. "And me finding out you were a vampire wasn't exactly you telling me anything. That was out of risk and pure coincidence that I had followed you, at all."
"Fair enough," he chuckled. "Well, you already know what I am, so what else is there to ask?"
I pushed my mouth to the side of my face, pondering a question. "Well," I started. "Why do your eyes change colors?" I asked.
"Mmm…" He hummed. "Next question."
"You said fair enough, and I think it's a very down played question. Now, answer me," I said, grabbing onto his hand to stop him from walking and turning him around. The electrical tingles ran through me again as our skin had contacted one another. We both softly gasped and I loosened my grip on his hand and let it drop—retrieving my hand and crossing my arms again. He looked down at me, but I held my eyes towards the ground. We both stood there for a moment until he grazed his fingers underneath my chin, lifting it up to look at him. I chewed on my lip, and only kept my gaze on his jaw.
"They change whenever I'm thirsty," he swiftly said. "Now can I ask my own?"
"Wait—" I said. Lightly grabbing onto his hand and moving it away from underneath my chin, ignoring the tingling in our grasp. "They change when you are thirsty?" I asked. "They've gone from onyx to gold in moments when you've been around me, especially today!" I huffed at him. "What? Am I a juice box for you that you've been waiting to drink from?" I scoffed and shoved past him and continued walking forward.
This is what he was talking about in his home on the night that he had left his family to go to Alaska. This is what he meant when he was talking to Tanya about why he couldn't come back to Forks— about why he had to stay away from me.
"No, Bella. Just wait—" He took his long strides to catch up to me. "Bella, no that has never come across my mind."
"'I followed her through the woods, looking for her?'" I held my fingers up in air quotes to remind him of his words. "Oh and, 'I would have killed her if I found her?' You were planning on killing me!" I stomped my foot like a child throwing a tantrum. "Don't you lie to me, Edward Cullen. I hate liars!"
"That was why I had left, so I wouldn't kill you. I had lost control that day in the classroom," He admitted with a sigh. "And when you had run out of the school and I found your scent in the woods, it meant you were alone… an easy kill."
"Exactly, you were planning on killing me. And for your information? I won't dare give you the chance to." I turned around, but he had grabbed onto my wrist before I could take off into a sprint.
"What about you? Why did you run out of the classroom, hmm? I saw the indentions in the desk from your fingertips. You were trying to hold yourself back from something," he breathed. He had pulled me closer to him, and his head was lowered towards my face. His overpowering decadent sweet honey was pooling into my opened lips, into my throat, causing it to tug at my tonsils and dance across my tongue. He didn't know how dangerously close he was to me right now.
Propius, Isabella. He won't be able to pull away once you latch on. I pulled my chin against my chest, wincing at the subconscious monster's words.
"Edward, get back," I said, softly, not believing in my own statement. I didn't want him to pull away, and he didn't. I wanted him to stay close, stay near me, to keep his lips only inches from mine. My breathing was becoming shaken, but I pulled in a rasp breath of air, and shoved him away from me. "Never get that close to me again."
His head had cocked to the side, narrowing his eyes at me while he seemed to be inspecting something. "Missing something?" he said with a cunning tone and a lopsided sneer. I stepped back, blinking my eyes at him, noticing my contacts were burned away and the flakes of them were caught into my bottom eyelids.
I huffed at him in irritation and rubbed my fingers over my eyes, rubbing the strips of the contacts out of them, and then flicked the soiled strips off my fingers.
"Great," I said, tightening my jaw. "Let's just get to the school so I can grab my truck and get the hell home."
We walked down the road to the school parking lot in silence. We could have been at the school by now if we had decided to run from the emergency room, but the streets were busy during lunch hour, so we didn't want to risk having someone see us walking into the woods together. It was better to just keep up slightly faster than human pace next to each other on our way there.
When we had finally finished our walk to the school parking lot, Alice had been standing there at the front doors with her arms crossed against her chest. A smug grin was apparent on her lips while she had shaken her head at the both of us. She uncrossed her arms and had practically floated down the staircase as she quickly flew over towards us. When she had come up to us, I lifted my head up to look at her, and she quietly gasped with widened eyes as she looked at me. Now that's two wolves and two vampires who had seen them.
"Alice," Edward scorned her.
"What? None of the humans were looking anyways. They are all in the cafeteria eating garbage." She twinkled at him, steering the conversation towards the way she had practically zoomed her way across the parking lot towards us in a blink of the eye. She changed her expression towards me. She was comparable to a pixie the way her hair had spiked outwards, along with her small frame and dainty features. Her smile was almost infectious when she used it towards you. "Hi, I'm Alice! I believe we have met before in unfavorable conditions."
Edward pinched his lips together with impatience. "Could we please move out of possibly human eyes before they see Bella and I at school? I'm confident the commotion and gossip wouldn't please her right now."
"Edward, we are fine," Alice said, adjusting the collar of her leather jacket.
"You wouldn't know that, now would you?" He narrowed his eyes at her. Her bottom lip jutted out in a pout as she hung her head low. I looked at both of them in question but had let it go. We walked towards my truck, standing on the other side, and using the frame of the vehicle to block our view of the school. "Alice," Edward said, pushing his hand into his back pocket, fiddling with it until he had pulled a clinking object out of it. She held her hand out to him and he had dropped a set of keys into her hand. "You four take the Volvo home."
Alice smiled at him and clutched her fingers around the keys. "Oh! Eddie is going to allow one of us to actually drive his Volvo? What an honor," she snickered at him, but he had replied with a low growl.
"How are you going to get home?" I asked, looking up at his cheek questionably.
"With you, of course," He looked down, grinning at me with a cocked eyebrow. "It's the least you could do for me after I had walked you here."
"You practically forced your hand on that notion," I glared at him.
"I will see you at home," Alice interrupted with a gleeful smile at him. She took another look at my eyes in curiosity, but she turned away from the both of us and walked away back towards the school.
When I looked back over towards Edward, he had already disappeared from where he stood. I spun myself around, looking for the decadent honey scent, but it only steered me towards the driver's side of my truck. I gritted my teeth when I had noticed he was in the driver's seat with the keys of my truck spinning around on his finger. I frantically padded my back pockets noticing that he must have taken them out without me having realized. He would've been a good thief if he were one.
I walked over to the driver side door and pulled it open. He didn't look at me, but instead had put the key into the ignition, turning it and allowing the truck to roar to life.
"Interesting choice for someone who loathes attention."
"Move over," I said, furrowing my eyebrows at him. "You're not allowed to drive my truck. Not now or ever."
He smirked at me but complied to my threat and had lifted himself over towards the passenger seat. I sighed with a roll of my eyes and climbed into the driver's side and pulled out of the parking lot that to my surprise, had melted. The school must have used more salt on it after the incident.
A/N
NOTICE: Go back to the previous chapter where the action scene with the wolves commenced. I edited it a little bit last night after reading a review from Sharpeyes and took portions of her review and incorporated it into the scene.
Yeah, I know I left it off in a weird spot. I went back to check the word count and noticed it was almost at 10,000 words and was 20 pages long. I decided I wanted to start the next chapter where this one had left off! I know this chapter was a little lighter than the previous ones. I thought it was time for Edward and Bella to actually have a conversation with each other, even though Bella finds herself to be frustrated with him. I am hoping to read at least 5 reviews before I update again! Thank you to those who have been frequently reviewing each chapter! As always, see you next time!(: