Disclaimer: STRIKE!! Till i get cookies :D
Ten past midnight: lol, that's quite allright. I dialed the wrong number today. Some Italian kid answered, Anyways, I'd read that story all the time. TEHEHEHE. Kilts are fun.
Shannon: I know right. I mean, I love bella, but sometimes i just want to STRANGLE the kid. MARRIAGE TO EDWARD CULLEN...YOU DON"T SAY NO TO THAT, but neways. She did in my head, and i had to write it down.
Em: lol, glad i made ya laugh. Because Leah was dumb...no jk, because I just figured she would be the most volatile, and unprepared, so she would probably be the one to get killed. GAY LLAMAS!! Interesting, yet disturbing, thought. I looked up broken hill yesterday bc i was bored. It was so PRETTTYYY. U know what you can do to see what were I live looks like. LOOK AT A SHEET OF PAPER. STUPID SNOW.
Kerssica: Bachelor's party: right, getting to that. Some obstacles have to be jumped first. Stupid pond. At least there are whales in the pond...that makes it sortof better. Neway, issues, my friend. You have them...like an old magazine. Lol. Join the club tho. YAY NO MORE ITCH. Tell santa that I would like a sledgehammer for Christmas...so I can beat the strange individuals mentioned in this chap. with it. HAHAHA...NO ONE LIKES KERSSICA, reindeer edition. So, how's that working out for you? Low self esteem issues any? Here call 4563212454...Suicidal reindeer hotline. Leah's funeral might have to be...well, you'll see. FLY KERSSICA...FLY...tell phillip i love him. I'll have a harmonica waiting for him when he gets here to my 5468716541687498 cell block number. Like i said, BIGGG prison on lake erie. THANKS AGAIN.
Gwen: Thanks...i think. Why not?
Minimeyer: Peanut butter is the bestest ever!! Especially on saltine crackers. GO JIFFand thanks
Xloopiloox: I Like your version of spelling yooh. So i will now spell yooh that way also...yooh great reviewer yooh. Lol thanks yoohre comment made my day. Yooh are a great individual and yooh have a super fun pen name. It reminds me of a roller coaster. Lol
Shadow-wolves: patience is a virtue...lol. not that i have ne or nething. Thanks for the review. This story is like the cliffe king of the world. Sorry. Didn't mean for it to be that way actually. Thanks for the luck too. I need it.
Mattybabe: YAYAYYYAYAYAY!! Did you bring me back a panda?? (wags tail...if was a dog). Yes, Josius is dead. You people beat it out of me. So much for suspense. How was the good old Orient?
Mrsedwardcullen1714: Why couldn't he walk? If there was some reason in the book that I forgot...OOOOO...kindly look the other way and whistle. Haha. Awwww...Alice's puppy face. Bane of my existense. Gets me every time.
Thefuturemrsedwardcullen: Speak the book. By someone...forget who. I don't know. I was just thinking of electrons at the moment. Lol. Been there done that, the mom takes you to a shrink bc you laugh maniacally when there's no one around...hmmmm...he was a nice guy. Glad I could make your dream come true. Thanks for the review. LY
ThrushflightEdward'sstalker: You my friend, have an exceedingly long pen name. Finger cramp...neways, you mean you don't have the time in a bad way, as in its too long?
Nobodyparticular: I saw an outhouse today...i thought of you. Lol. Thanks. Dory ISSSS amazing, don't you know.
Elaine Blows: Your comments made my life...THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH!! Im kindof tired of writing thank you. Man, someone pass me a thesaurus.
Jjrenee: A bear? As in a ferocious, rather large, brown beast with teeth and hair...Google it. Sry bout the gravity issue.
Chapter 18
He insisted that this story of his be told somewhere other than the hospital parking lot – something about needing to go somewhere I could yell my lungs out without being lectured by security. Just such a place, according to Edward, was the abandoned parking lot of an off-the-beaten-path consignment shop that had gone out of business some time ago. The letters on the decrepit sign were faded, so I couldn't tell what the name used to be.
Even with the parking lot being entirely deserted, Edward insisted on pulling in perfectly between the white lines of his chosen space near the storm drain. He turned off the engine. Rain was pattering all around us, making me feel cut off from the rest of the world, leaving Edward and I inside our own private sanctuary. Thunder boomed in the distance.
"Fourteen miles away," he mumbled absentmindedly.
I knew the time between lightning strikes and thunder could be used to determine how far away the lightning was, but I hadn't seen the strike, and I wondered if that was how he really did it. My bet was no – once again, I was amazed by Edward's supermanness.
"So..." I started, when he remained speechless for a time, "is this the part where you sell me to the Mafia or what?"
He shot me a shifty glance out of the corner of his eye. "You caught me," he said, tone dripping with sarcasm.
"It's a creepy place...just saying."
Turning towards me, he averted his golden eyes and timidly lifted my left hand. "Bella, I'm sick and tired of keeping things from you. I do it too much, I know. I just want to apologize and say that I'm not going to do it anymore, starting now."
"I knew it," I groaned.
His brows pulled together.
"There's another woman." My tone was dead serious, right before I started laughing.
Edward's eyes narrowed. "I'm serious."
"As usual."
An exasperated look fell over his features.
Immediately, I sobered. "Sorry. I'll be good. Please continue."
He took a deep breath from vestigial lungs. "Irina really opened up a can of worms with the Malinaught."
I raised the hand he wasn't holding, like we were in school. "Question."
His eyebrow arched. "Yes?"
"Who are the Malinaught again?"
"No one is really sure what their names are...or what they look like. Irina, well, she was the first one to live to tell the tale."
"Not the kind of people you'd have tea with on Sundays...Gotcha."
His fingertips were playing with my engagement ring, twisting it this way and that, brushing over the sparkling stone. "They're more – mischievous than they are murderers though. They'll possess people, occasionally drive them mad, but they keep to themselves mostly. They love privacy...well, except when they're bothered."
"But what are they?" I asked.
He gave me a funny look. "Ready to add yet another mythical creature to your index."
Here came the unicorns.
I slipped off my shoes and turned to face Edward, sitting Indian style in the seat. "Sure. Why not?"
"Have you ever heard of the Sidhe?" he asked.
Sidhe. Sidhe...where had I heard that name before? Suddenly, it clicked. I'd heard it on a National Geographic special on mythical Ireland.
"Fairies?" I half-laughed. "You have got to be kidding me."
He leaned his elbow on the dashboard and buried his face in his pal,. "That's the Sunday School term, yes."
"Fairies don't exist."
He peeked one eye from over top his fingers. "Neither do vampires."
All right...so he had a point. "Touché."
"Finished?"
I nodded.
He raised his gaze to meet mine squarely. "The Sidhe...No one really knows how they got there or why. They just...are. They're immortal like us, but infinitely more powerful, and beautiful."
I interrupted and shot him a pointed look, "I don't think that's possible."
He glared.
"Sorry," I muttered, then zipped the imaginary zipper between my lips with my thumb and pointer finger.
A small smile touched his face. "Anyways, centuries ago, when they all still resided in Europe, they split into two factions – Seely and Unseely."
For the sake of Edward's clearly-vanishing sanity, i refrained from giggling. You don't know 'strange' until the day your vampire boyfriend sits you down to have a perfectly serious conversation about fairies.
"The Seely were...fairly good, while the Unseely were evil. When they immigrated to America, the Unseely Court changed their name to Malinaught and went into hiding."
"A bunch of Tinkierbells gone to the dark side...Right..."
I simply couldn't resist.
He rolled his eyes. "If Tinkerbell was seven feet tall, had complete control of the elements, and could end your life with a glance, then yes."
I tilted my head to the side. My mind just refused to grasp this concept.
"Just go with it," he told me.
I sighed. "I'll try...So, how did Irina get involved in all this?"
"She stumbled upon their hideout on a hung – somewhere in northwestern Canada. They captured her, but she escaped though. You see, her power is that she can immobilize any moving object. She was on her way to our house when I caught up with her in Oregon."
I'd forgotten about that, about how I yelled at him and made him run that far.
I nodded, attempting to let his words sink in while the downpour steadily pounded the top of Edward's car. "Were they going to kill her?"
Slowly, he nodded, averting his eyes. "They kill anyone who knows where they thrive."
I glanced at him accusingly. "You know."
He didn't speak.
"Do they know that you know?" I demanded, an edge of hysteria coloring my tone.
"They know that most vampires know, now." He grabbed both of my hands. "Bella..." Edward began gently, "there's going to be another war." His voice was quiet, but I heard his words as if they'd been shouted at me.
I couldn't breathe. Maybe we should've stayed at the hospital. I was beginning to hyperventilate.
Frigid hands grabbed my face. "It's going to be fine, Bella. There's nothing to worry about, I promise."
"A bunch of...vampires...and evil Sidhe...are coming here?"
"It'll be all right."
"But...what about...all the people...and FORKS?" I gasped.
A strangled laugh escaped his lips. "When Alice said she invited everyone, she wasn't joking. I thought we could use the wedding as an evacuation. Give everyone free tickets to Jamaica or something."
"But Alice," I cried, "She was upset. She said that no one was going to come!"
"She wasn't looking for anything other than the wedding itself. Emmett would have told her by now. She should have everyone called by 6:30 tomorrow."
All of a sudden, he crushed me to him. "I'm so sorry...I know you wanted it to be perfect."
I shook my head. "It's perfect as long as you're there...Forks has to be evacuated."
Those liquid eyes gazed at me intensely. "That includes you."
I returned his stare. "And you."
His orbs looked away for a moment, gazing out the windsheild, off into the gray.
My jaw clenched.
Finally his sad eyes returned to mine, and gazed up at me through lowered lashes. "I don't think I can sit this one out."
A/N: so there you have it. The story behind irina and the malinaught, and o...Edward has to team up with other vampires and fight the Malinaught, and Bella has to leave, and their wedding is going to be an evacuation maneuver...it's a lot to take in, I know but just bear with me. 43 FAVORITES!! Woot woot. Review, u people who don't. 72 alerts. Grrrr...Anywho, ly as always. Tell me what you think.