The first couple of weeks were the toughest of my recovery. My legs were like jelly for days after the incident. And then, they felt extremely sore for another week after that. Every breath I took caused me severe pain in my chest, even though they said I was supposed to be taking deep breaths at least once every hour to help my ribs heal.
Edward practically begged Charlie to let me stay at the Cullen's house on the weekends, under the ruse that Carlisle would be there to look after me while I healed. In reality, Edward felt that I was much safer when I was surrounded by his family at night, and really, I couldn't object. It made sleeping through the night much easier, in our big king sized bed, with Edward, knowing that the Cullens were around me. Charlie had eventually conceded after I threatened to move out.
Once our routine had become something closer to normal, Edward dove headfirst into tracking my assailant. I'd never seen such a fierce determination from him. He scoured every newspaper, every news station on tv, just searching for any story that made sense with what I'd gone through. Some proof that my attacker hadn't been specifically targeting me. He found nothing.
"That doesn't technically mean anything, Edward." I pleaded with him one Sunday night, trying to force him to see reason.
"There is no reason why he would attack you over some other girl, Bella! He smelled me on you! This is not a coincidence."
"Maybe he just picked me by chance and then you scared him off! He's probably out of the country by now!"
"Right. And leave us behind to track him? No way."
"Track him?! We clearly can't track him! He knows what his abilities are. He knows you can't find him and so he doesn't feel like he needs to watch his back!"
"Or maybe he's doing this on purpose, did you ever think about that? He could be waiting out there in the shadows until the moment I let my guard down, Bella!"
"Yeah but your guard won't be down this time, not like last time! Last time you trusted that we could depend on Alice's visions to ensure my safety. Now we know that's not always the case. We're prepared now! We cannot live the rest of our lives in fear!"
"I would rather be on edge for the rest of my existence then live to see the outcome if I relax!"
Edward and I were just about yelling now, over the Cullen's kitchen table. There were newspapers scattered all over the place. The house that was usually immaculate, was now covered in mysterious news clippings and articles about missing people from all over the state, and even the country.
We were both leaning over the table toward each other. His eyes were black with thirst and mine were puffy with exhaustion. I felt my lip tremble and pulled away, not wanting him to see me cry.
"I'm going to sleep." I mumbled, turning quickly away and making a bee line for the bedroom. I slammed the door shut and fumbled with the lock, tears already leaking from my eyes as I climbed into bed and curled up under the covers.
It was less than a minute before Edward was there. I heard the doorknob break as he forced the locked handle open, and then he was in bed with me, pulling me into the circle of his arms and hugging me tight against his chest.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into my hair, rubbing my back. I didn't pull away. I didn't have the energy or the willpower.
"Me too," I sniffled, hiccuping a few times as I relaxed against his chest. We laid in silence until I felt myself getting tired, and he hummed to me as I fell asleep.
After that, Edward never yelled at me. As a matter of fact, he barely showed any emotion at all. He simply went through the motions of our daily routine. He drove me to school, sat as close to me as possible in all the classes we shared, and skipped the ones we didn't. He was always waiting directly outside the gym after school and walked us to the car in silence.
This went on for almost a month before I started getting sick of it. I hadn't seen Edward laugh, or even smile, in weeks. My ribs were feeling mostly better by this point, but he still refused to take me running or even kiss me for more than three seconds. He looked like a zombie, and I hated it. I filled the time by talking to him, even though he didn't give me a ton of responses. I knew he was listening regardless. Eventually, though, that got boring too. Our days after that were mostly filled with silence. It was a comfortable silence, but it made me anxious. I understood that Edward was frustrated that we hadn't been able to find any evidence leading to the vampire from the woods, but I hated that he was shutting down like this. It made me worried that maybe I had done something wrong.
"Are you mad at me?" I finally asked one day before school, after I climbed into the passenger seat.
"Of course not," he answered immediately. I sighed.
"Well it seems like it," I mumbled as he sped off toward the school. He did not answer me, just took my hand as he drove. I held it tightly.
I tried talking to him about the situation. I tried helping him by finding articles about people who disappeared in the middle of the night. He acknowledged me, and we talked briefly about possibilities. We even visited the scene of the crime in the woods, to see if the vampire had left anything behind. All we found was a few pieces of my hair. As soon as we were done discussing possibilities, it was quiet again.
"I'm not going to combust, you know." I mumbled. He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me against his side as we made our way out of school toward the empty parking lot one Friday afternoon.
"Spontaneous combustion is not my concern, Bella," he reminded me with a sigh, guiding me straight to his car and glancing around before opening the passenger door for me. He was in the driver's seat before I even had the door shut behind me.
"You're stressing yourself out." I complained, pouting over at him as he sped from the parking lot. He did not answer me.
We were having a physical in gym class today, and because my ribs and wrist weren't completely healed yet, I was permitted to skip the class. Edward and I were leaving school early, and usually, I would have loved having an early start to our weekend together. It used to be so nice, to have two whole days with just Edward and I. But now, I felt so distanced from him. It just made me feel sad. I leaned my forehead against the cold, frosty window, taking a slow, deep breath and holding it for a moment before exhaling, just like Carlisle had instructed me. It was supposed to keep my ribs healing as quickly as possible, and even though they did mostly feel better by this point in time, it still hurt awfully to take that deep breath. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to control my breathing so Edward wouldn't notice my pain. He took my hand and squeezed it softly, and I knew my efforts were wasted. Nothing escaped his observation when it came to me, especially not now that he refused to leave my side.
The rest of the drive was silent. I absently drew a heart on the window, which was foggy from my breath, and then drew our initials inside it with a small smile. I was staring at the stupid doodle as we drove, heading to Edward's house as we always did on Fridays.
I breathed softly on the window to keep my heart visible when it started to fade, and then glanced around when the car suddenly slowed down. By now, I was far too used to Edward's ridiculous speed, and I didn't ever expect to reach a speed below 50 until we peeled into his long driveway, but that's not where we were now. We were pulling off the road and onto a smaller side-street that was completely empty and unfamiliar. The road was dirt and there were trees towering above the path on both sides. He pulled to the side, close to the trees, and put the par in park while I watched him, glancing around, confused.
"Edward?" His face was expressionless. Both hands were still on the steering wheel as he stared ahead at the road. He did not respond to me. I watched him silently for a couple of minutes. "Edward." I snapped, turning my body toward him. Nothing. Another few minutes passed in silence.
I huffed in frustration and unbuckled myself, shoving the car door open and slamming it behind me as I stomped off into the dirt, toward the main road again. My breath was visible in the air, and the sky looked heavy, like my heart. It would be snowing soon.
I knew I was being childish, storming away like this, but I was so sick of Edward's stoic moping, I couldn't handle it anymore. I felt like I might drown in it.
I made it about 30 steps toward the road before I tripped over a loose stone. Edward was there, catching me before I could fall to my knees. I glared up at him and jerked my arm away, ignoring the pain that flared in my ribs when I did, and continued walking.
"Bella. Where are you going?" He asked me in that same reserved voice. I gritted my teeth and turned to face him. He was still standing where he'd caught me, about 5 feet away from me, but the distance felt like an ocean.
"Home. Since you clearly don't want to."
Silence for a few moments.
"Get back in the car."
"No."
"Bella, please." He looked exhausted suddenly, his shoulders slumping. I chewed on my inner cheek and watched him for another minute. It was freezing out here. Too cold to resist his invitation back into the heated car.
"Will you talk to me?" I demanded, desperately wishing I could have my old Edward back. Wishing I could see that crooked smile light up his eyes.
It was another few moments before he nodded once. I walked back to the car and got back in, unsurprised to find him already inside, hands on the steering wheel again.
"I miss you," I spoke first, hating how my voice cracked when I said it. I saw his fingers tighten on the steering wheel.
"I'm always with you." He objected, and I couldn't help but to laugh humorlessly.
"Maybe physically. But I don't even remember the last time I heard you laugh, Edward. We barely talk. I missyou." I repeated, swiping at a tear that managed to escape. Now that my anger had dissipated, I was left with nothing else but sadness. "You won't let me help you. You won't talk to me. What's going on?"
Edward let out a shaky sigh and finally turned to look at me. His eyes were anguished, and it only made me feel ten times worse.
"Bella… you have no idea how tough it is, trying to keep you safe while hunting your attacker. I feel-"
"Excuse me?" I interrupted him, feeling my throat close up as I processed what he said. I blinked as more tears fell, but these were not tears of sadness any longer; my anger from minutes ago flared back up quickly. "Then don't! I don't understand why you're still here if I'm such a… such a burden." I leaned away from him, feeling upset and angry and most of all, hurt.
"Bella, you misunderstand me-"
"No, I understand perfectly, Edward. I know that I can't do anything to help you, and the only thing I do is put a bigger target on your back because you have to doom yourself to protect me. You don't think I know that? You don't think I think about it every single night, and especially after I got attacked last month, you don't think I thought about just driving away and never coming back?" I wiped an angry tear away. Edward tried to interrupt me, but I spoke over him. "You act like you're the only one who feels like he needs to sacrifice himself to keep me safe. Well you're wrong. I think about it all the time, and it hurts, it hurts because I know it's useless! There's nothing I can do to make this easier for you. I love you so much that it hurts because I can't protect you while you try to protect me. So if there's a target on my back then you really should just leave it there, Edward. We've said it plenty of times; you're interfering with fate by keeping me alive. Well you won't have to anymore. I'll leave if that will make it easier for you!" I was barely thinking through the words I was saying. All of the frustration and helplessness I'd been feeling since that night in the woods came crashing over me. I found myself yanking on the door handle, trying to get out of the car again, but it was locked and Edward was reaching across my waist to hold it shut. "Let me out!" I screamed, yanking it once more, and then I was really crying, burying my face in my hands and giving up, just letting the sobs take over.
"Bella, Bella, please hear me out, please!" Edward begged, and then suddenly he was outside of the car, on the passenger side, finally opening my door and pulling me into his arms. We sat on the dirt road as I cried, and I was unable to find the energy to push him away. I didn't want to - the thought of leaving tore a hole inside of me so wide I felt like it would swallow me whole. But Edward held me together. He cupped my cheeks in his hands and forced me to look at him through the tears.
"I love you," he said fiercely, pressing our foreheads together. "You misunderstand me, Bella. You are the most precious… the most valuable person in my entire life. I would never feel burdened by the need to protect you, Bella. I'm just... I'm broken, too," I watched his anguished eyes, and I half expected to see tears falling down his cheeks, though I knew they wouldn't. He took a shuddering breath, relaxing just slightly now that I was listening to him. "I'm just so scared, Bella. I'm so scared that I'm not strong enough, not fast enough, not good enough to protect you. And it has nothing to do with you. I've been doing my best to do all of this on my own, to keep you protected, to keep you off the radar. But it's useless, I'm useless, without you. I just don't know what to do now, and it's killing me, to know that he's still out there, and there's nothing I can do about it without putting you in danger. I love you," I was still crying as he spoke, but I tried to hold myself together, taking a deep breath and hugging myself close to his chest.
"I'm s- sorry," I sniffled against his shoulder. "I'm just- I'm scared, too, and I don't know what to do about it either. I'm scared that you're going to get yourself hurt trying to clean up this- this mess, and I don't think I would survive it if you did." Edward just rocked me as I spoke, kissing my cheeks, wiping the tears as they fell.
"I'm right here, love. I'm not going anywhere. I was trying to figure this out all on my own, but I need you. We have to do this together." He smiled, then; a tight, pained look. I nodded, feeling the anger drain out of me, my shoulders slumping.
We stayed there, sitting in the dirt, for who knew how long. It was only when I started to shiver, the cold seeping through my jacket, that Edward helped me back into the passenger seat. The heat was still blowing, and I shivered as it slowly warmed me up again.
"I'm so sorry," He whispered when we were both back inside the car, taking my broken hand and kissing my fingers.
"I just want you back," I breathed, leaning against the back of the seat, watching him. "I want to laugh and talk with you again. I want my Edward back," I watched him longingly, and he leaned across the center console to kiss me softly.
"I'm right here, Bella. I'm sorry. I promise I'll get better." He whispered against my lips, and I pushed forward to kiss him again. He returned it eagerly, and then pulled back too soon. "Let's go home," He smiled at me then, his crooked smile, and although it didn't quite touch his eyes, I could tell he was feeling better. I was, too.
"Did you two lovebirds finally make up?" Emmett was the first to speak when we finally reached the house. I blushed as Edward set my backpack down for me by the door.
"We were hardly fighting, Emmett." Edward scowled at his brother, who barked out a laugh.
"Could've fooled me!"
Edward rolled his eyes and made his way immediately to the computer; it was always his first stop when we got home. I didn't bother watching him scroll through the news websites; he scrolled too fast for me to read even if I wanted to. Which I didn't.
Esme kept the house stocked with so much food, it felt like there should be a house full of teenage football players living here. It was embarrassing, because obviously I was only one person and I couldn't eat everything she bought me. She insisted that she didn't mind, and that she wanted me to be as comfortable as possible. Eventually, I'd gotten used to it. I started the oven, throwing some pizza rolls on a pan while it heated up. I didn't feel like cooking anything that took effort.
I jumped when Edward was suddenly behind me, arms curling around my waist, resting his chin on my shoulder. I grinned as I relaxed back into him. My heart was fluttering in my chest, and he chuckled when he felt it, turning to press a cold kiss on the side of my neck. I shivered. It had been forever since we'd shared this casual intimacy. I turned in his arms, winding my own up around his neck so I could kiss him properly. He returned it earnestly but pulled away far too soon, and I bit my lip as I traced the circles under his pitch dark eyes. He couldn't bear kissing me for very long when he was this thirsty.
"You know I'll be fine here for a few hours, Edward." I reminded him softly, and he sighed.
"I know. It just makes me nervous. You know that." He kissed me once more, softly, before I turned around to put the pan in the oven.
"Why don't you just go now?" I smiled up at him after I set the timer and leaned against the counter. "I'll watch a movie or something." He watched me for a few moments, deciding, before Alice appeared in the doorway, practically bouncing with excitement. We both turned to face her.
"Finally, Edward is going hunting! Yes, yes, yes! A girls' night!" She sang, taking my arm and dragging me out of the kitchen to their huge wall of DVDs. "Pick something to watch, Bella. I'm going to get my nail polish!" She was so excited that I couldn't help but laugh, watching her disappear. Normally, I would be dreading these types of nights. But I was still so elated from my conversation earlier with Edward that I couldn't help but feel excited. Everything felt different now, even the mundane things. I felt more alive than I had in weeks.
"I thought you'd be upset," Edward laughed as he watched me browse the DVDs. I shrugged.
"I'm happy." I smiled shyly over at him.
"I like it when you're happy," he growled, lips suddenly at my ear, and he pulled me down onto the couch so he could pin me down and tickle me, kissing my neck as he did. I shrieked and struggled to free myself hopelessly, until Alice was back and he reluctantly peeled himself off of me.
"I like it when you're happy too," I grinned up at him hugely, still laughing, basking in the relief of having my Edward back.
"Why are you still here? Go!" Alice was putting her stuff down on the coffee table, shooing Edward from the room as she set down her giant bag of nail polish. Edward grinned and stole one more kiss before he was gone.
The girls' night turned out to be something I needed desperately. As much as I loved spending all of my time with Edward, his attitude as of late had made me feel like I was suffocating. Talking with Alice was as easy as breathing. Watching movies with her, though, was something else entirely. She would gasp at a most inappropriate scene, and then, before I could figure out what she was reacting to, the scene changed and I realized that she was not seeing what was happening on the screen, she was watching the next few scenes in her head. I couldn't help but laugh when this happened for the first time, and she grinned sheepishly, apologizing. It happened multiple times before the movie was over - I had learned to expect a plot twist coming up whenever Alice reacted aloud.
As Alice and I began our second movie of the night, Esme joined us with a smile as Alice changed her mind about my nail color for probably the 50th time and wiped it all off to restart.
"Would you mind if I joined?" Rosalie's soft, musical voice shocked me far more than Esme's arrival had, though they were just moments apart. Both Alice and Esme stayed quiet as the opening credits played on the screen, and I realized with a start that they were waiting on me to invite her in.
"Of course not, Rosalie," I smiled warmly up at her and immediately moved to make room on the couch. When she sat, it didn't look all that natural; she was perched right on the edge of the couch, but I couldn't have cared less. Just the fact that she was sitting with us made my heart swell.
The movie - a mystery thriller - didn't do a great job holding my attention. I talked and laughed with Rose, Alice, and Esme, and pictured myself belonging here. I knew I didn't yet - not fully. I would only truly belong once Edward changed me. And I knew I could never say that to him, or to any of them; they would object, say of course I belong here, and make an effort to assure I was comfortable. But I knew I could never really feel at home until I wasn't growing older every second, every day. Until I could keep up with them, my second family. I thought about this as Rosalie braided my hair with her deft fingers, creating the perfect plait against my back effortlessly. I was tired from all the crying I'd done earlier, and I sank into the couch, letting my eyes droop just a little bit.
A crash from the tv screen turned my attention back to the movie finally, and I found myself leaning against Esme as we continued watching, trying to catch up with the story. She draped her cold arm over my shoulders and we sat back comfortably. I'd never felt more at home here than I did now.
It wasn't until the movie had ended, and I had gotten up to stretch, that I realized something was wrong.
Alice had gotten up to put the next movie in, but she was frozen mid-step halfway to the tv. I barely heard it when she gasped, but suddenly Jasper was there with us, in front of Alice, holding her face in his hands as she stared off into space. I was frozen too, at the horrified look in her eyes.
"Alice?" I started softly, approaching her slowly. Esme and Rosalie were frozen too, all of us waiting for her to say something.
"No-" She choked out after a couple of excruciating silent moments, and I felt my muscles lock as the terror washed over me. What else could be scaring her like this? I had to be him. Something was going to happen.
"What do you see? Tell us," Jasper pleaded, concerned. All was silent for another moment, before Alice shattered it with a piercing scream. My own startled scream echoed hers, and I jumped about a foot in the air.
"Alice!" It was Rose this time, taking Alice's arm and shaking her as she continued to watch the future in her mind. My heart was hammering in my chest.
"No! Bella- Jasper!" Alice screamed again, and Jasper looked desperate.
"Alice, please, come back!" He shouted, but it took a minute still before Alice was able to snap out of it. She was silent for a few moments, lip trembling, and then I saw her focus back on the present time, panicked eyes finding Jasper and then me, and then each of the girls with us. Then she collapsed against Jasper's chest, taking shaky breaths.
"It was a warning," She sobbed, but I still didn't feel like I could move to respond or ask her what she meant.
"He's coming for us. He showed me-" She didn't look like she could physically describe what she had seen- it was too horrible. "He showed me awful things." She whispered. I didn't realize I was shaking until I felt Esme pull me down onto the couch, probably afraid I would collapse.
"Why? What does he want?" I breathed, not trusting my voice enough to speak any louder than a whisper.
"All of us." Silence enveloped the room.
"Where is Edward?" I choked out after a few moments. I needed him here with me. I needed to know he was safe.
"He's still out hunting with Emmett and Carlisle." Esme rubbed my back in an attempt to be soothing, but there was only one velvet voice I wanted to hear right now.
"Is he out there?" They knew I was not talking about Edward now. "Is he going after them?" I got to my feet, feeling completely useless, but needing to move around, to feel like I was doing something.
Everyone began speaking very quickly then. So quickly that I could only catch certain bits of the conversation, but not enough to understand what was going on. I stood watching them anxiously until Esme pulled me back down onto the couch again. My weak knees were grateful.
"What's going on?"
It was Esme who answered me. "You and I are going to stay here with Rosalie. Alice and Jasper are going to find the boys and bring them back. Then we can talk with everyone."
"Are they in danger?" I breathed, horrified, imagining the vampire I'd encountered in the woods attacking Edward like he'd attacked me. Tears burned my eyes.
"They'll be fine, Bella. They're together. They'll be back soon." She assured me. Alice and Jasper were already gone, and when I looked over my shoulder toward the back door, I could see Rose pacing in the dark lawn. It had to be after midnight by now. The living room was only lit by the television screen, and the shadows dancing on the walls made me jumpy.
I got up again, unable to just sit and watch this play out. Esme walked to the back door with me, but caught my hand before I could step outside into the dark. "Bella, please, I promise they will return." Esme pleaded with me, and I buried my face in my hands as I tried to calm myself. Intrusive thoughts were racing through my head, pictures of Edward in pain; I could imagine his perfect face, twisted in agony, and that really got the waterworks started.
"I want to be out there," I hissed, pacing back and forth in the kitchen. "I feel so useless." I dropped my shoulders, and Esme stroked my hair.
"You know he would want you to stay here, safe with us,"
"Edward wants a lot of things." The words came out sharper than I meant them to, and I sighed heavily as I tore my eyes away from the dark trees to look at Esme. "I'm sorry, Esme. I'm just… a little freaked out," I laughed, but it came out kind of strangled, and I had to turn back to stare into the woods again so she wouldn't see the tears fall.
"You're not alone," She reminded me softly, and I remembered with a stab of guilt that I was not the only person here who was waiting on someone's return.
"I'm sorry," I whispered again, and she rubbed my arm.
"They'll be here soon," She reiterated.
We waited for about 20 suspenseful minutes. I was jumpy, and teary-eyed, and helpless while we waited. What if he'd taken Edward? Or Carlisle? Or Emmett? What if he'd been working in a team, and had managed to capture all three of them? I wasn't sure how much it took to really hurt a vampire, but the way he'd cracked my wrist like it was a twig was terrifying to think about. I knew Edward was strong, and I knew Emmett was a fighter, but just the thought of either of them being in a situation where they were fighting for their lives made my throat burn with tears and my heart race with anxiety. It had already become very clear to me that my life without Edward was pointless, and I couldn't begin to imagine the pain I would feel if he-
"Finally," Rosalie gasped, and at first I didn't see anything. Just the darkness surrounding the trees, which were still just as silent as they had been before Rose had spoken. But I was on my toes, stepping out onto the wet grass after Esme did. Then they were there. Alice and Jasper holding hands, Emmett and Rosalie locked in an embrace right at the edge of the trees, and Carlisle and Esme murmuring softly to each other as they slowly moved back to the house. I barely had any time to register any of this before I was swept right up off of my feet and into Edward's arms. I felt myself choke on a sob as I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, hugging him as close to me as I possibly could.
"Bella," He whispered, and his voice sounded relieved even though it was hardly audible to my human ears. He pulled back to kiss me fiercely, sighing and stroking my cheeks with his thumbs as he set me down. I hadn't realized we were back inside the house until my feet met the soft carpet and a warm light filled the room; someone turned on a couple of lights. I couldn't even look around at the others yet. I was still clinging to Edward - the relief of seeing him here with me was making me feel lightheaded.
"Are you okay?" I demanded.
"I'm perfect, love. Not even thirsty anymore." He promised, letting me explore for myself. I pushed myself up on my tiptoes to get closer to him, my fingers tracing across every inch of his pale skin, making sure there was not a hint of a scratch anywhere. I found nothing, letting my hands trail over his shoulders, his biceps, and finally down to hold his hands. He tangled our fingers together securely.
"I told you I get anxious when have to I leave you. Do you finally understand?" He murmured as he lifted our entwined hands to swipe a few of my stray tears away. I nodded, and then glanced around as he pulled me down on the couch with him. He wouldn't let me out of the circle of his arm, keeping me so close I was halfway in his lap. I felt much safer here, and more relaxed now that I could feel Edward with me.
"So it seems that we may have some new information we need to go over," Carlisle finally addressed everyone, standing at the head of the room, in front of the tv, which was muted, but still playing our movie from earlier. It seemed like lifetimes ago that Rosalie had braided my hair.
"I would hardly call it information," Edward growled, and I had almost forgotten that he could see everything that Alice had. As he spoke, his grip around me tightened.
"What exactly did you see, Alice?" Esme asked softly. Even Emmett looked alert and on edge, his arm locked around Rose's waist as they stood in the corner of the room. Esme was sitting on a chair close by Carlisle's spot at the head of the room, and Jasper and Alice were seated on the couch with Edward and I. All eyes turned to Alice when Esme spoke.
"It was… very vague." She began hesitantly, clearly not wanting to recall her vision. When she spoke next, she spoke almost too quickly for me to understand, and almost too quietly for me to hear. I really had to focus to catch it all. "It was dark. I couldn't see where we were. All I saw was him. He was torturing Bella, and then Jasper… The person kept changing, like he was changing his mind again and again about who he was going to torture while I watched. Then he-" She sucked in a trembling breath to compose herself before continuing. "He killed them. He killed everyone. All of you. He turned to me, and he smiled, and he said 'soon' … That was it." Jasper was sitting very close to Alice, protectively. She looked so small, so fragile, and I couldn't imagine how she must have felt to see that. The room was silent for a few moments, and I watched Alice's lower lip tremble.
"But that's not real," I was surprised when I was the first one to speak. "I mean, Alice, you said it yourself. You said 'he showed me'. If he showed you this, then it wasn't a regular vision, right? And last time, that night in the woods, you saw me sleeping in my bed through the night, right? And that clearly didn't happen. So this vision… It's like he's playing out scenarios in your head. Just videos. Whatever he wants you to see."
"Right. But how? What kind of ability allows you to manipulate someone else's?" Carlisle's voice somehow managed to sound both intrigued and appalled.
"Well… Edward can't read my mind, right? But he can read everyone else's. And others, too, who have some sort of mind controlling ability - they can't touch me. Even though I'm not a vampire, my brain is still manipulating those abilities, right?"
"But this wasn't just blocking someone out, Bella." Edward spoke this time, voice strained. "This is another situation entirely - he's putting images into Alice's mind. Making her see things."
"But isn't that the same thing Zafrina does?" Rosalie interjected, and I tried to sit up straighter and look over at her, but Edward refused to let me move even an inch from my position in his lap.
"Yes, but it's not just implanting images into someone's mind - this was Alice's visions of the future being manipulated." Carlisle added softly.
"So maybe that's his ability - to exploit other people's abilities." Esme pondered.
"Okay, maybe you're right. But why can't we smell him? Why can't I hear him? I've never heard of any vampire having more than one ability." Edward countered.
"You said it yourself; maybe he's not acting alone. He could have a mate, or someone else with him who takes care of that part for him." I pointed out, and the room fell silent for a moment.
"Okay, so let's say that's all right. Why? Why Bella, why us? Why now?" Carlisle mused.
"Who cares?" Emmett's voice was the loudest, making me jump. "This guy's clearly got a grudge for whatever reason, let's get rid of him!" He snarled viciously and crouched low toward the ground, clearly ready to go whenever Carlisle said the word.
"How?" Jasper piped up. "We know almost nothing. We have no leads, no scent. We may know what he looks like now, but physical appearance is very unreliable for tracking. He - or they - seem to have extensive knowledge of our abilities, and how to manipulate them. We need a place to begin, somewhere to start looking from." He was speaking very quickly now, and I barely caught all of his words. "It seems like they want all of us - they probably just went after Bella because she's the easiest target, and it was simple to get her alone when we were still in the dark about what they could do." I winced, feeling my cheeks burn at Jasper's passing comment, and Edward kissed my forehead reassuringly. "Now that we understand a little more about how they do things, they are resorting to mental games, to make us scared, make us feel like we're still out of our element. We need to get one step ahead of them this time, which will be easier now that we have a better idea of what we're up against. We can ask our friends in Denali, and anywhere else close by, if they've had any trouble lately. See if there's any reason someone would have to target us."
I couldn't force my brain to focus on anything except what Jasper had said about me being the easiest target. I hated being the weakest link. It felt physically painful to sit here and know that the Cullens had to fight to defend both themselves and me. I hated being unable to protect myself, no matter how much Edward claimed he had no issue with it.
"I think that's a great place to start." Carlisle agreed with Jasper, pulling my mind back to the present, and Emmett grumbled under his breath, but did not argue. The plan was set, now that Carlisle had had the final word.
Finally, the group dispersed, agreeing to take shifts keeping watch on the house. Esme and Alice were up first. Edward walked me upstairs to the bedroom to go to bed. Though vampires didn't sleep, past midnight was still deemed as a rude time to try and contact someone, so they decided to wait until morning to call their friends in Denali and start investigating.
I brushed my teeth and combed through my hair in the bathroom, not realizing my hands were still shaking until Edward was there behind me, gently taking the comb from my hands and finishing the task for me. I was staring at myself in the mirror, but I could not focus on my reflection. I vaguely noticed my eyes were red.
"Sorry," I whispered, and then jumped when I heard a small crash downstairs.
"It's just Emmett and Rose," Edward assured me, pulling me with him into the bed and into his arms. "You have nothing to fear, love. They all agreed to allow me to skip my shift so I can stay here with you." He kissed my forehead as we settled into bed, and I frowned.
"That doesn't make me feel better. I hate being the weakest link. It makes everyone more vulnerable, having to look back all the time to make sure I'm okay." I sighed, frustrated with myself, and realized I was picking the skin around my nails. Edward grasped my hands in his own to stop me.
"You don't give us enough credit, Bella. We're better at multitasking than you seem to realize. You are not a burden." He forced me to look into his eyes when he said that last part. "Do you understand?" He raised an eyebrow, and I chewed on my lip for a moment before succumbing. I nodded and closed my eyes.
It took me a long time to fall asleep. Edward's soft singing helped, but I was still freaked out and genuinely afraid.
"I don't want to lose you," I whispered into his neck a little while later. I was almost asleep, but still filled with anxiety.
"You won't. I promise." He murmured into my hair, and his arms tightened around me. I fell into a troubled sleep, Edward's lullaby the only barrier between my mind and the threshold of nightmares it was balancing on.