Previously - "The Spanish influenza was a real bitch too." Than she drove away, leaving me standing shocked in the driveway.
Did she just….what did….but that just….
Wow
She pretty much just admitted me admitted to me that she was alive during the early 1900's. She wasn't even trying to hide that fact. But was she joking? But that doesn't make sense, she wouldn't be the type to try and mess with my head, and I think that she wanted me too know. I walked to the house, greeting my mum who was still in the living room and answering her questions about my night but not really realizing what I was saying. After saying goodnight to her and taking a shower, I went to bed, not sure what the time was or what I was doing.
So I knew that she was something different, probably not human. Yer, definitely not human. Her family was enemies with the Quileute tribe, mostly Sam Uley and they couldn't go on to their land. Their being near the reservation would make the Quileute people become something else. She was cold, and strong and didn't eat, at that I could help them, that I would fix things and make things better. I just need to know what to do, how can I help them? She was old, really old and so was Jasper. Jasper could do things with emotions and Alice could see the future.
But how old were they? I wanted to know now but there was no way that I could know. Bella needed her sleep. Her family was like her and they liked me. There was no way that she would tell me what she was even if I called her. But Jasper was on that video that they showed during history, they had his name and story so there had to be more information on him somewhere.
Jumping from my bed, I opened my laptop and started the computer up. Once it was up, I started the internet and typed in Major Jasper Whitlock. I smiled widely when link after link showed up on Google, each listing his name and different aspects from the civil war. I clicked on the link, overjoyed when there was a picture of just him, taken when he first entered the war. The picture was black and white, and sure, this was just a picture, but you could see what kind of a person he was through it. He had a lazy but calm smile on his face, and I relaxed slightly just looking at it. His eyes were bright and mischievous, holding secrets that I wanted to know.
I continued to read page after page of information, learning about the man that I sat across from at lunch, who was born in the mid 1800's. Strange when you think about that, and I really should be more scared by this knowledge. Knowing that they were all probably much older than they appeared should make me want to stay away from them, but I didn't, I just wanted to get to know them and their pasts better. I wasn't scared of Bella, I didn't like her any less, I just wanted to spend even more time with her now, now that there were less secrets and that we could speak more freely, and soon I would know what she was and than after that, I would ask her to tell me everything that there was to know about what and who she was.
But I might be able to find information on her now, and I wouldn't even need to bother her. I already knew what her last name was, that she was alive during the Spanish influenza and her old address. Typing 'Swan family + Chicago + Spanish Influenza' I waited for Goggle to load up. There were results, but not as much for Jasper. But it had what I needed. Clicking the first link, I was greeted with a picture of the street two blocks from my old street. Though this picture was taken during a time that I wasn't alive for, but that Bella was. The picture was meant to be black and white, but aging had lead it to become that strange but classic brown colour, not quite sepia but close. The house in the middle of the picture was number 28, I assumed that this was their house. There was information about her parents, apparently Charles had been the town's chief of police, but had had trouble controlling his wife, and eventually started taking long breaks at work to go vacationing with her. The wife was supposedly a very flighty woman, often leaving her child with her sisters and going on vacations : for this she was frowned on upon society. Scrolling through the page, I found that there was a picture of the family of three and my heart got caught in my throat. Bella was standing in front of her parents, wearing an old fashioned dress (Obviously, Edward, you remember what year that this was, right?) that covered her arms and really pronounced her….female regions. I gulped. She was beautiful even as a human, but there were some small changes with her appearance. Her cheeks were rounder when the picture was taken, her nose not as straight but not crooked at all, and her cheek bones were a little more pronounced now, but she was still beautiful. Apparently her parents had skipped town when the influenza had hit town. Bella had stayed, and had been taken to hospital by the woman that she worked for. She hadn't been seen after, so she had probably died. There had been to many bodies to sort through them all. How could any parents do that to their child? Leaving them behind while they skipped town to escape the sickness. Why wouldn't you take your child with you? Even if she didn't want to go!?
This was making my head hurt, so I turned of my computer, put my IPod on and went to bed, laying on my back and trying to concentrate on the music, wanting to get to sleep before morning.
/*&*/
I woke up at two am, upset that I had been torn from dream Bella. A thump had woken me up, and I opened my eyes to see a flash going from my window to my closet.
"What?" I muttered groggy, confused. What was that flash and what had woken me up? I sat up and looked over to the end of my bed. The closet wasn't open and I assumed that the flash had just been my imagination, the thump too probably. Sighing and probing my ear phone back to my ear, I laid back on to the mattress and fell asleep almost immediately, dreaming about my Bella and the stuff that we could do together.
/*&*/
"Time to get up." I heard my mum's voice, she had her hand on my forehead. "Are you alright?" She said as I opened my eyes.
"Yer why?"
"You were tossing and turning a lot." She said. I tried to untangle myself from my IPod headphones and sat up.
"Just a funny dream, nothing to worry about." I smiled up at her through heavy eyes, how I wanted to go back to my dream, this was the best one by far.
"Alright, just get up and get ready, we have a few hours until we have to be there, and it's nine now."
I sat on the edge of my bed, trying to think over what had happened last night after Bella had gotten me home. I knew that Jasper and Bella were old, really old. Then the first dream, we had been in the car again, she was telling me everything all over again, plus the information that I had learnt myself. Than that thud had woken me up. I looked over at the window but nothing was on the floor that shouldn't be. Than the second dream, the one that had me tossing and turning and my mother concerned when she should be jumping for joy, or calling me stupid and be even more concerned than she was now. Bella and I had been sitting with each other at the restaurant and than at the forest. We had been talking about everything that we could think of again, but she was in my arms this time, curled up with her arms around my neck and her head resting on my chest, my arm, my forehead. She had kissed me and told me that she loved me, and I kissed her back. I held her tighter and told her that I loved her more. And I knew, even in my joyous but unconscious state of mind that it was true. And now that I was awake and thinking about it, I knew it to be even more true. I loved her, more than I had thought possible, more than my parents had. I missed her when she was not around and that pulling in my head and chest whenever I wasn't with her was because I loved her. I wasn't afraid of her because I loved her and love can overcome everything. I had been in love with her after knowing her for only two days. I wanted her forever, and I was going to fight for it. I would do whatever it took.
Smiling to myself, bright enough to light the town, I walked with more spring in my step than before to the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day, without Bella. I frowned to the mirror and ran my hands through my hair, but reminded myself that I had an excuse to text her. I tried to take my time getting ready, but I was just so used to getting ready fast so that I could spend more time with Bella that I was ready by 10 – even with all of that time that I had spent thinking about Bella. Mum was ready when I got to the kitchen and we talked about last night again, apparently I had been vague last night and she wanted more information. I told her about the book store and about the books that I had gotten. I told her about the movie and that we had gone to dinner at the Italian restaurant that she had spoken about, and that the food was really good. She smiled whenever I mentioned Bella's name and I asked her what she was smiling at.
"You have this dreamy look in your eyes every time that you speak about her, it started the first day that you met her and got more and more pronounced every day that you have known her. And it gets bigger every time that you say her name." I laughed and blushed,
"I like her." I wasn't usually so open about my feelings, even if this was my mum, but I just wanted her to know.
"I know." She smiled.
"I mean that I really like her mum."
"How much do you like her?" She said slowly.
"I love her." She looked at me with widened eyes and I continued eating my breakfast, not breaking my eye contact and smiling widely, trying not to show her the food that I was eating. "What."
"You love her." She didn't ask a question, she made a statement. Did she even need my reassurance.
"Very much." She had to believe me. I wasn't that much younger than she was when she met dad and started to love him. She stared at me for a few more moments, probably thinking over my behaviour the past week.
"I believe you." She nodded and her face turned from contemplative to brightly smiling. She dropped her spoon and got up, I followed her with my eyes. She walked to my side of the table, hugging me tightly for a moment before going back to her side, still smiling but with tears in her eyes. I was probably being inconsiderate, this was probably reminding her of dad. "You'll be a gentleman?" She asked seriously.
"Of course." I smiled at her.
"Is she coming today?" She asked, and she was tense again. Something was up.
"She couldn't, actually, about that. Did you ask Sue if she could come?"
"Yer."
"What did she say exactly?'
"She said that Bella shouldn't come. She said that Bella would know what to do."
"Thought so." She looked up at me.
"You know about that than, how her family isn't allowed to go to the reservation." I nodded.
"Do you know why?" I asked her, and she said that Sue wouldn't tell her. "Alright than." She nodded and we ate our breakfast in silence, than she went upstairs to get ready and I smiled brightly, unable to contain my smile as the feelings coursed through me, as I cleaned up the kitchen. At eleven am we went to the car and started the drive to the reservation.
"So do you know who will be there?" I asked her after we had been driving for a few moments.
"Sue and her kids, some of their friends and the people from the tribe."
"Like….?"
"Billy Black and his son, Sam Uley and his fiancé. Some of her other friends and their son's and daughters. Jacob, Quil and Embry are probably the closest to you age, they are all 15." So Sam Uley was going to be there, at least I had a reason to constantly text Bella. "Sue told me that we need to be aware when we meet Emily, she got mauled by a bear last year and she has scares on her face, Emily doesn't make that much of a big deal about the marks but apparently Sam gets really upset." I nodded. Strange, last year was when the Cullen's came back to town and so that was probably about the same time that Sam changed to whatever he was now. I wonder if the thing with the bear really happened, if Sam could kill me than maybe he did that to Emily too.
"Great." I smiled at her, not really happy but willing to try for her. I did not want her around Sam either, if he was dangerous to me, than he was dangerous to her too. She looked at me curiously but shrugged and than went back to looking ahead of her towards the road. We were crossing the town lines now and I assumed that Alice wouldn't be able to see me anymore. I wanted to text Bella now, but she would probably think that I was being all desperate and clingy, and admittedly I was. I wanted to be with her, if we weren't going to the reservation than I could probably spend time with her, and that was better than spending time with a bunch of 15 years olds, who would probably grow up and have the ability to kill me. If only mother knew.
We were driving past the beach now, if you could call this a beach. There were rocks everywhere, the whole beach was full of them. They all looked grey and monotonous
from here, but they were probably a magnitude of different colours when you saw them up close.
We followed the road through the town and pulled off on to a small dirt road, that led to an average size house. I could see an old shack at the back, probably used as a shed or a garage. We left the car, walked up the porch steps, mum with a bright yet timid smile on her face and me trying not to grimace. A middle aged woman with thick black hair that stopped just above the middle of her back answered the door.
"Elizabeth! How are you? Come in, come in!" She smiled, waving us into her house. She smiled at me, somewhat sternly and said in a less friendly voice. "And you must be Edward, I am Sue Clearwater, nice to meet you." She held her hand out for me to shake and I did, saying, "Hello Mrs. Clearwater." And smiling politely when she told me to 'just call her Sue.'. I could tell that she was trying hard to be polite to me, but her tone was stern and I was even more certain that she too, like Sam Uley, was very anti-Cullen, and she definitely had a prejudice against me for being friends with them. She lead us through the house, to the back yard where there were about thirty other people mulling about. We were probably the last ones here. She led us around the yard, introducing us to people with names that I would probably forget. We were headed towards a rather small group of people, one of the men was in a wheelchair.
"This is Billy black." She gestured to the wheelchair man who smiled politely at my mother and nodded sternly at me. "His son Jacob," He was tall for his age, he was only meant to be 15 but he was about my height. He smiled brightly at both of us, saying –
"Sup man." When he saw me.
"And this is Sam Uley and his fiancé Emily Young." Sam had a hard face, his features were relaxed into a mask of peace, but his eyes were tight when he looked at me and he only offered a stiff smile to my mother. Emily was much nicer, shaking hands with both of us and politely saying that it was nice to meet us, she seemed to mean it too. But her scars, we didn't stare or make any indication that we noticed the three massive lines running through her face, scaring her features, but we definitely did. The lines disfigured the left side of her face, running up her cheek and making her smile slightly lopsided and tilting her almond shaped eye upwards.
"Great to meet you." Mum said, and I smiled politely at the two of them and nodded my greeting. They made simple small talk and I fidgeted, wringing my hands and kicking the ground with the toe of my foot, desperate to get my mother and myself away from Sam, he was still looking at me with tight eyes and pursed lips. Jacob was looking at me from the corner of his eye, probably wondering why I was being so quiet. I pulled up my phone from my pocket and texted Bella, writing Hey, Good morning, everything's fine. How are you? And waiting anxiously for a reply. I didn't have to wait too long. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I hurried to get my phone, almost dropping the device in the process.
Good Morning to you too! Did you have a good night? Glad that everything's alright.
Yer, I did actually, one of the best in my life . You?
My night was fantastic. She was a really fast texter. If I take a while to respond sorry, I blame Alice.
Alright, I'll talk to you in a few hours.
"Hey Jacob!" A gangly boy with, of course, tanned skin and black hair, came running up to the group and smiled up at Jacob. Jacob smiled back timidly.
"Hey Seth." He said tightly. Then he boy turned to me, shooting his hand towards me and smiling widely.
"Hi! I am Seth Clearwater!" This kid was like a rabbit on crack, he was practically vibrating with energy as I shook his hand. "You two wanna come and play guitar hero? I already got Quil and Embry." What was it with this state and playing guitar hero? Jacob nodded enthusiastically, jogging towards the house. "Come on Edward." He smiled, walking towards the house without loosing that goofy grin. I smiled up at my mum, who nodded happily, and then followed them to the house.
The living room was set up with couches and two teenage boys were setting up the guitars. A girl, about 18, was laying on the couch reading a book and looking angry. "Leah, stop moping and come play with us!" She gave Seth the finger and one of the boys, the taller, less built one, laughed at him.
"Ahh, sibling love." He smiled sweetly and then went back to the guitar.
"Shut up Embry." The girl, Leah, snapped.
"Shut up Embry." The boy mimicked with a twisted mouth. The boy next to him,who must be Quil, laughed and high fived him.
"Guys, this is Edward Masen." Jacob smirked, sitting on the ground next to his friends while Seth sat on the couch and stretched him long legs to the other end, leaving me to sit on the spare arm chair, looking around at the boys that were looking at me with raised eyebrows. Seth chuckled.
"You mean that you are the guy that invited Bella Cullen?" He asked.
"Yer, what's wrong with Bella?" I asked frowning, I already knew that Sam and Sue didn't like her, but didn't everybody have something against the family?
"Well, I don't think that there is anything wrong with her, but…." Seth muttered.
"Seth." Quil muttered, looking torn. It seemed that his reaction was involuntary, like stopping whatever his younger friend was saying just had to be said, like he had to keep a secret.
"So you don't think that there is anything wrong with her? Does everybody else?" I asked, already knowing the answer. They all exchanged glances, even Leah who had put her book on her chest and was looking around the room.
"We don't really believe the legends, but they are a past of our tribe, a part of our history, so even if we think that the legends are dumb, we have just heard them so much that the natural aversion is there. We can't help the way we were raised, plus it is better this way." Quil shrugged.
"What?" I asked, and Jacob sighed.
"We can't tell you." Jacob said.
"I won't tell anyone that you did, I am just curious, Bella said that she wasn't allowed here and she said that the reason wasn't her story to tell." That wasn't a complete lie.
"But – " Jacob said, but Embry cut him off.
"Oh, who cares, we should just tell him. The stories are fake and nobody is going to find out that we told him. Seriously, what's going to happen, are we going to start a war?" He laughed and the other boys joined him. Leah chewed her bottom lip, than sighed and started to read again.
"Alright," Seth nodded. "so we tell him. But you can't tell anybody that we did, alright Edward?" He looked at me, still smiling. I nodded.
"Of course." I smiled back.
"And we can't tell anybody else. My dad and Leah and Seth's dad is on the tribe council, they are the elders and if they knew that we broke the treaty…."
"Can you imagine dad's face?" Leah chuckled. Seth nodded and shivered. I laughed at them.
"So are you sure that you want to know?" Embry asked.
"Yer, after this you might never be able to be around her again." Quil smiled.
"I am sure that I will be fine" I nodded.
"Alright." Seth chuckled. The boys on the floor shifted so that they made a circle. Seth jumped off of the couch and joined their circle, settling next to Jacob. I joined them and took my seat next to Seth and Embry. They all looked at each other and then at me, I think that they were trying to make me intimidated.
"The history of our tribe dates back hundreds of years, and there are many different legends." Jacob started
"But what do your legends have to do with the Cullen's?"
"Getting to that man." Seth laughed, ruining the mood. I smiled back.
"Alright, so the legend concerning the Cullen's still relates back to our people. Our people used to be spirit worriers."
"Spirit worriers?" I asked after Jacob paused for a moment.
"Yer, Spirit worriers." Embry continued. "The men of our tribe used to leave their bodies and their spirits would protect the land. They could get the animals to do their bidding . But one time, the leader Taha Aki left his body in a secret place and went to the spirit world. Another person from the tribe, who had been out casted, was named Utlapa. He followed Taha Aki up the mountain and once Taha Aki had left his body and was far enough away, he went to his spirit self even though he was not allowed to. He went to Taha Aki's body and than used the new body to cut the neck of his own body. Now Taha Aki had no body to use. Utlapa went back to the people and took power. Taha Aki was devastated about everything that was happening to the people, but there was nothing that he could do, for Utlapa, using Taha Aki's body had told the people that they were never to use their spirit selves again. So he was stuck in the spirit world. Eventually, he got an idea, he approached a wolf and invaded it's body. The wolf allowed them to share the body."
"As one, the wolf and Taha Aki went back to the town, but the people ran from fear, see the wolf was huge for it's kind. But Taha Aki didn't attack anybody. He slowly retreated from the people, trying to make the songs of the tribe with his barks and yelps. The people began to realize that this was no ordinary wolf. Of course, Utlapa was hiding. . One of the young men went into the spirit world and Taha Aki went to the spirit world, but the wolf waited for them. Yut, the young man got all of the information that he needed. But before he could return to his body, Utlapa had come from hiding and saw the body, and he went to kill him before he could tell the others what he had heard." Quil finished.
"Utlapa killed him. Taha Aki was angry. He went back to the wolf body and something amazing happened. His emotions were so strong, but they were human, the emotions were too vast for the wolf's body. The wolf shuddered and turned to a man." Seth continued.
"You mean, he changed form?"
Seth nodded. "The other people realized at once who he was, even though he didn't look like Taha Aki, he looked like his spirit, and they had flown with him, so they knew what his spirit looked like. He explained everything and the people turned on Utlapa. He tried to run, but Taha Aki had the strength and speed of his wolf body, and he easily killed him. Taha Aki went back to lead the tribe, but he didn't age. He had many son's and they all transformed to wolfs when they became men. Then one time, another being came to the village. She was beautiful, with long flowing hair and pale skin with red eyes. She started to attack the people, but all of the wolf men were up hunting in the mountains. She came closer to the people and was about to kill Taha Aki's' new wife, the one that he loved more than the others. He had outlived some, but this woman he loved more than the others. He had imprinted on her. One of his sons was younger, not yet a man but he wouldn't let his mother die. He transformed to a wolf and heard the minds of the other wolf men. They came running to help him and they all killed the new being and everyone was fine." He ended lamely.
"But, everyone thought that the young man had transformed just because he was angry. But a few years later, more of the new beings came to the village. The men changed to the wolf people. They discovered that the presence of these….things were what was causing the people to change. " Jacob said.
The people that caused the wolfs to change? That had to be what Bella was, she was pale and beautiful and said that she and her family caused the wolfs to change.
"So, the people who caused the men to change are what the Cullen's are?" I asked slowly.
"You catch on quick." I laughed at Leah.
"So than what are they, the people that cause your people to change?"
"They are the cold ones. The enemy of the wolf tribe. Or werewolf's as what your people would call them."
"So what are the cold ones? What are they?"
They all looked at each other smirking and than looked at me. "Vampires." Jacob smirked.
Shit.
"Edward? Edward!" Jacob was waving his hand in front of my face and I snapped back to reality.
"What?"
"You think that these legends are true don't you?" Jacob laughed at me.
"Well I think that they might be real." Seth shrugged.
"How cool would it be if they were, oh I would totally want to be a werewolf." Quil laughed.
"That would be kind of cool." Embry tilted his head to the side thoughtfully.
"I think that the legends are sexist. Why are there no girl wolfs!"
"Because girls aren't worriers, darr." Quil rolled his eyes and Seth punched him. "Oww!"
"Well, that probably would have hurt more if Leah punched you."
"True that." Leah said.
"You guys are all stupid, why would you actually want to be a wolf?" Jacob said.
"Because."
"So do you actually think that Bella could be a vampire?" Jacob laughed at me, and I laughed back. I should be more scared, I should be telling them that she was really a vampire and that they were right, and that Sam was a wolf. But I wasn't, I was happy to finally have my suspicions conformed and I still wanted to be with her. So what if she was a vampire. But that meant that she would drink blood.
"So what is the deal with the Cullen's, why can't they come here?"
"Alright, well about fifty years ago, maybe a bit more, they apparently came here. There were only five of them then and our people found them hunting. Jacob's great granddad was the chief and he made a treaty with them. The Cullen's said that they were different from the others. They were drinking the blood of an animal, not a human and they convinced us that they were always like that. They had different coloured eyes I think I heard, don't remember. But we made a treaty with them, so if they never bite or drink from another human, than we don't attack and we don't tell their secret. Plus they can not come onto our land. " Embry finished.
"Oh." I said.
"But there are two more of them now, so if they are vampires than they broke the treaty, and besides, we have no wolves, do we?" Seth laughed.
"Right." I said. "But didn't you just break the treaty?"
"But…. Well we did but you told us too, and besides, know one will know." Seth was still smiling.
"I guess that the Cullen's can either come and kill is all now, or bite another human or drink another human now, right?"
I laughed, but made sure to remember that Jacob said that. It might come in useful one day. I was serious when I said forever. I wanted forever on earth with her, or as long as I could have at least. If Anne Rice was right, than a vampire had to bite the human for them to change….
"So, To guitar hero!" Embry shouted and pointed his hand and finger like a superhero. We laughed and played the game, but the whole time I was concentrating on Bella and her now definitely vampire family.
When the food was served, I made sure that we sat far away from Sam and Emily. She was fine, but he transformed to a giant wolf when he was angry. The meal passed in loud discussion while I sat in almost complete silence thinking about Bella and her definitely being a vampire. I knew that I loved her, and that I would do anything for her. I just hoped that she felt the same way, or even a little bit like I did. I hope that she wanted me, that she wanted me the way that I wanted her, and the same amount of time that I wanted her for. Would she even consider changing me? I could be a good vampire, I could eat animals instead of humans, that would work. I could live with that. But all that I would have to worry about would be my mum. She might not survive loosing me. That sounds conceded, but I knew that she loved me and she had already just lost dad. He had only been gone for two years, but I knew that she would never get over him.
But I needed to be with Bella, and I was selfish, I knew that. But I didn't even know what Bella wanted. I sighed.
My phone vibrated. Hey, everything going alright?
I didn't want to tell her what I knew over the phone, I had to do this in person. Yer, but Sam keeps glaring at me, he knows that I know you.
What! Edward you need to stay away from him , your mother too. Don't talk around him or about me, you know what? Insult me even, that would probably make him happy.
I'm not going to insult you. She was insane, but she was also a hundred 109 year old vampire.
Just be safe.
She got paranoid easily too, but she was paranoid about me. I smiled. Plus, I would be concerned is she were near Sam or his kind. Could she feel the same way about me that I did as her? No, we were friends, that was how she saw me, right?
I promise.
That party ventured through the night and after three more games of guitar hero and an arm wrestling match, that I beat Jacob at, me and mum went home. We left early, only ten, but mum was getting tired and Bella was getting anxious, even though we were constantly texting now. She hadn't asked me if I knew anything and I hadn't said anything.
Mum and I had toast for dinner and watched re-runs again. Thinking about the last time we had done this, I couldn't help but smile at how much my life had changed. Nothing else was different, yet nothing would ever be the same again. Back than, only a few days ago, I was unknowingly in love with Bella. I thought that she was different but know I knew that she was a vampire. I was willing to change my life and become a completely different being just for her, and I knew that I wouldn't regret changing if I was allowed to. I sighed happily as I went to bed that night, tired and happy to be spending the next eight to ten hours sleeping with Bella. Wait….
/*&*/
I woke to birds playing on the trees that rested on the borderline of the forest and my backyard. Sighing I went to the bathroom and change and shower. The house was unusually quiet, my mother usually got up before me. When I got to the kitchen, I realized why.
Edward –
My mother had written on a piece of paper that she had left on the kitchen table.
I had to go to work, something happened with that case that I was telling you about the other night. I will be back later tonight. Don't get lost if you go to the forest, stay on the track. Have a great day, love mum.
Great, so now I am stuck here all day. I could go meet her for lunch, but she was probably busy. I could call Bella but she might be busy with her brothers or something. Sighing, I grabbed my phone and IPod and put on my converses, wanting to go for a walk. I locked up and tried to decide whether to go to town or the forest. But I knew that some kids from school worked at some of the local stores, so I would probably see them if I went that way. So I turned to the forest and started walking through the forest, staying on the track and listening to the music, thinking about Bella and how I was meant to tell her that I was in love with her. I had been walking for about an hour. I could hear that the rain was starting to fall. I decided to start back home, and turned quickly, but I didn't see the tree root that was on the trail I groaned when I tripped on the root, falling and crushing my hip on the bigger root that the little root was attached to. I sat up and went to untangle my foot, groaning again when I touched my ankle. I think that I had twisted my ankle. I pulled the limb free of the binds and started rotating. I groaned again.
"Edward?" I heard a soft voice whisper, the voice that sounded like Bell's and helped to light my world up. I whirled my head towards her. She was standing a few feet away, with her had on a huge spruce tree that was covered with moss and twigs.
"Bella!" I smiled over towards her "What are you doing here?" She shrugged as she walked over towards me. "Just wondering round the forest."
"Your house is nowhere near here."
She smiled back at me. "Yer….are you alright? Did you twist your ankle?" She came over and touched my twisted ankle, her ice cold touch didn't hurt and she was so soft when she touched me. The electricity sparked up and my breath caught in my throat.
"Oh yer, I fell on the tree root." I laughed. She still looked concerned though, so I told her that I was alright, but she looked up at me and bit her lip. She looked back at my ankle.
"The twist isn't anything to bad, your ankle will be fine but you should try not to put your weight on your foot."
"Are you sure that you don't have a crush on your dad?" I joked, but my voice was tight. She laughed lightly and looked up at me through her eyelashes and my breath caught in my throat again. She was so beautiful.
"Do you know?" She asked me quietly.
"I know."
"How?" She was looking away from me know, and I leaned to her and put my hand on her cheek, guiding her face towards me.
"I was talking to the Quileute boy, they knew that I invited you and they told me their tribal legends about the wolf men and about the cold ones. Then they told me that cold ones were vampires and that just conformed what I already thought." She looked up at me.
"You already thought that we were vampires?" I nodded. "How?" I laughed again.
"Anne Rice – 'Interview With A Vampire.'" She laughed.
"Seriously!" I laughed with her, nodding.
"Is that why you went all tense when I mentioned her name." She laughed and nodded, but went quiet after a few moments.
"Are you scared?" She asked, quiet again.
"No. can't you tell?"
She smiled back up at me. "You don't seem scared."
"I could never be scared of you." She was staring at me.
"Why not? You should be. I could kill you in the blink of an eyes, if."
"But you won't, and you don't want to."
She was quiet again and pain flooded her eyes. "But I did." My eyebrows raised.
"What?"
"That first day….." She looked past me. The rain was getting to us now and I shivered. She looked back at me. "You're getting cold, you might get sick. Come on. I'll take you back home." I nodded and went to get up. "Wait, I can carry you, you will hurt yourself more if you put weight on your foot."
"Carry me?" She smiled at me brightly.
"Vampire." Than she scooped me up in her arms and my eyes widened.
"How did you do that, and how are you carrying me?"
"Vampire strength and speed, now do you get motion sickness?" Her holding me like this was making me feel like less of a man.
"No."
"Well than this is fun, but if you start to feel sick tell me or close your eyes, you have only gone a few miles so we won't be long. I won't go as fast with you.."
"Alright." Than she started to run, run really fast. So fast that the trees blurred. Motion sickness was starting. Then we were on the edge of my house and the forest. The trip that had taken me an hour to walk had taken her two minutes to run. "Wow." I gasped as she set me on my feet.
"Did you like it?" Her hair was windblown and her eyes were alight with excitement. I laughed and nodded. "Great." She put her arm over my shoulder and told me to put my arm round her waist, and I did so happily. She walked towards the house, still supporting most of my weight "Do you have a key?" She asked. I got the key from the pot plant and opened the door, once we were inside she put the key back in the pot plant and let go of the door, picking me up again and racing to the living room, sitting me on the couch and putting my feet up on the table.
"I feel like a baby."
"Well," She smirked. "compared to me you are a baby." She disappeared again but came back a moment later with ice in a bag and a tea towel. She wrapped up the bag and than put it on my ankle. The relief was immediate, it was better than her hand.
"I know." I sighed as she sat next to me. "I know a lot about your past."
"How?" She looked up at me.
"Internet." I smiled and she raised an eyebrow. "Can you go and get my laptop?" I asked, and she was back a moment later with my laptop in her hands. I started it up while I spoke, opening up the internet homepage and going to my history and clicking on the page that had her information. "Last night I was still curious, so I looked up you and Jasper, but as Major Jasper Whitlock. The page that I found on you had a lot of information, sorry if you didn't want me to know, I didn't really think of that that kind of stuff would be on the page." She looked at me curiously and gasped when I handed her the laptop, raising her hand and almost touching the screen. "What?"
"I had forgotten what we all looked like." She muttered.
"You forgot what your parents looked like? What you looked like?"
"Well I pretty much knew me, but after a while you forget about what features you had lost or gained during the change, I remember that I used to blush a lot and that I was really clumsy, I am even a clumsy vampire, by vampire standards anyway. But we loose our memories, most things become foggy and then the memories just go. If you keep on thinking about them than they can stay, but I didn't really try to remember Charlie and Renee." She read through the page and frowned or grimaced at different parts. She went quiet after she had finished, before looking up at me with shining eyes and I wondered why she wasn't crying.
"Do you want to know the full story?"
"Only if you want to tell me." She nodded again and put the laptop on the table top. "I was born on September 13th 1901 and Chicago was swarming with activity. My parents were young, too young to have children if you ask me. They were seventeen and had only been together for about four months. My mother was very….eccentric, by 1901 standards anyway. My dad started to work at the police station and be the time that he was 25 he had been promoted to the chief, don't ask me how. As the page stated, mum used to run of for weeks at a time, dad would stay home most of the time, he would take care of me most nights and my mothers sister would take care of me whenever he couldn't. Then when I was ten, he started to leave with her. When I was 16 the influenza hit. There was panic everywhere, we had no way to stop the sickness and everybody was scared. I had gotten a job at a seamstress's the previous summer and I was saving my money, I wanted to help us all if the sickness got to bad. I told my parents of my plan and my mother asked if she could have the money, I gave her half of the money that I had saved and They left two days later, that was August. I turned seventeen almost a month later and I got sick in October. I was feeling a little off but I thought that I just had a bug, I think that I knew, but…." She stopped talking and looked back at me. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" I shook my head. "So, I went to work one day, I was only a few blocks away from the hospital. The lady that I worked for had to bring me to the hospital after I collapsed. Carlisle worked there, he had just arrived a few months earlier and was working the night shifts. He found me and he was asking me how I was one night. I started crying and told him everything, something that I wouldn't usually do, I was always so quiet. He listened to me and told me that everything was going to be alright. I was at the hospital for eight days before I died, almost. Carlisle had let himself grow close to me, and before I went unconscious for the last time, he put his hands on my face and told me that he could let me live. He told me everything, what he was, how old he was, the cons and pros and how he lived. He asked me if I wanted him to change me and I agreed. He took me to the morgue and than carried me over the rooftops of the starry Chicago night to his apartment. He put me on his bed and bit my neck. He hadn't done that before, so he redid his wounds, and he regretted that later, there was a much less painful and quicker way to change me and he learnt that after me. If we lick the wound no scare is left, but he tore – wait don't worry."
"I want to know, tell me please." She looked at me and sighed again.
"He tore open my neck and than bit me again. The scar is still on my neck. Turn on that lamp there and pass it here." I only just realized that she had turned on the light, but I still passed it to her. She pulled off her hoddie to reveal a tight white singlet white. Tearing my eyes to her own, I watched as she pulled her hair away from her neck and held the lamp close to her skin. Something was glittering, like diamonds in the sun. I moved close to her and put my hand on her skin, feeling the texture of the scar.
"That's where he bit you?" I asked and she nodded. "Why does the scar sparkle, actually, your skin is sparkling too." She laughed.
"We don't turn to dust at the contact of sunlight but we sparkle, the scar sparkles more though and it even sparkles in lamp light, the rest of the skin is too though because the lamp is so close."
"Sparkle, really?" She laughed again and nodded. "Do you think that I will ever get to see that?" I hoped so.
"If you want too."
"Good."
"So, after three days of pain I was changed to a vampire, we had to move then because Chicago had too many people."
"So?"
"Vampires can smell blood, and newborn vampires are even worse, our thirst is crazy and we can't control ourselves."
"So, you get thirsty for blood."
"Yer."
"And you can smell my blood?"
"Yer."
"And that's why you wanted to kill me?" She stopped breathing.
"How did you know that?"
"You have almost said kill a few times….I think. You would say 'k- never mind.'" She looked at the table, but I wanted to see her eyes.
"Bella." She didn't move. "Bella!" She looked up at me. "I don't care."
"How can you not care!"
"Because I want to be near you, and this is part of who you are, you can't control this, and I can't blame you for this."
"Edward, you have to understand, I have great control, but you….you change everything. I more or less skipped over the new born phase, I was around humans after three months and I could be around them for a whole day after four. But you change everything. I almost killed you in our first class together. Alice told me that you would be there, but not how I would react. I started to plan ways to kill you, ways that I could get you from that classroom and get you to the forest or my car or something so that I could bite you." She was moving closer to me, pulling at her hair and looking into my eyes. "That text that Alice sent me? You remember that?" I nodded. She pulled her mobile from her pocket and, after fiddling with the phone, she handed it to me. The phone said.
You won't kill him, you don't want to.
He is special, he makes things better. Please trust me.
Stop breathing.
Keep thinking rationally – Carlisle, the family, you.
Stay strong – Alice.
Wow. "But I don't care about that, you stayed strong and you became my friend. " And I fell in love with you.
"But your scent – "
I took her hands in mine and pulled them away from her hair. I held them in mine.
"Your scent is better than any that I have even smelt, you're my singer. Your scent sings to me in ways that I could have never have imagined. The others didn't believe me at first, Emmett killed his singer without a second thought, and then Jasper lost control too."
"Why?"
"He is an empath, he can feel and change the emotions of those around him, but he can feel our thirsts and when he felt Emmett's he lost control too and almost went after that lady too, but Alice and Esme stopped him, but they couldn't get to Emmett in time, plus she had probably seen to much."
"But what about me, I know too much."
"You're different."
"So what about the others, what can you do, what about the speed and strength, do you have a gift?"
"I am a mental shield, people with gifts that affect the mind can't work on me, but Alice and Jasper's gift still works because it affects more body not my mind. Not only are we really fast and strong, but we also have other heightened senses. I can smell your blood and your scent. I can smell toast and coffee that someone had here this morning, I can smell your mum and the pine and leather of the furniture. I can smell everything. I can see the dust particles in the air and the indents on the furniture. I can see the scar on the right side of your nose and the particles from your shirt. I can see your pulse moving the skin of your neck and the vain too. I can hear your every breath and the rain and the car that's turning to the road and your every heartbeat." Her eyes were shining as she pulled one of her hands from mine and put it on my chest, over my heart.
"Wow." I was getting lost in her eyes.
"So what did you want to know about the others?" Her voice was quiet.
"When did you meet them?"
"I can't tell you their whole story, they might get upset if they can't do that. But after Chicago, we moved to Ashland and we met Esme, well, I met her. Carlisle had met her ten years earlier in 1911, she was sixteen and had fallen from a tree and broken her leg, they were in Ohio. They fell in love then, but neither of them had the guts to tell the other and she got discharged and he moved. She was near death and he found her at the morgue, and he realized who she was, he ran her home and changed her, I got so scared. I had no idea what was going on." She laughed. "Rose was next, we were living in Rochester and Carlisle found her near death on the street. She found Emmett two years later and ran him over 100 miles back to Carlisle. She was scared that she couldn't change him but wanted to keep him, so she let Carlisle change him. Jasper and Alice found us in the 1950's. She had seen them with us and they came to find us, took them two years or so."
"What's your favorite food?" That came from nowhere, but whatever. She laughed at me and leaned into my side. I put my arms around her shoulder as she laughed and answered. "Panther."
"Ohhh!" I said, that made sense. We laughed together.
"Favorite decade?"
"The twenties or now."
"Do you change?"
"Everything has frozen, on the plus side we never need a haircut."
"How many times have you gone to high school?"
"Too many."
"Why do you keep going."
"To better blend in."
"How old is everyone else, physically?"
"Alice is about 18 and Rosalie is nineteen, the other two boys are 20. Esme is 26 and Carlisle is 23." We kept talking like this for hours, she took me to the kitchen and helped me make lunch when I got hungry and answered every question that I could think of. The things that she had done and seen were amazing. She had actually been Alive for the world wars and gave me the best history lesson that I had ever had. It was informative too. We were still sitting in the kitchen, me on one seat with my feet propped up on the seat on the other side and Bella sitting on the breakfast bar. It was four o'clock now and we were discussing the differences between when she was human and when I was.
"But society is less strict now, and that is a good thing, I like not having to wear dresses everyday and people telling me that I need to find a husband." I stiffened. "You alright?"
"Did you ever find a husband?" I asked tightly.
"No, I told you I had never had a boyfriend. I had offers to be courted but I never said yes, they just weren't for me."
"What about when you were a vampire?"
"No boyfriends."
"I didn't necessarily mean boyfriend." I muttered. This was so embarrassing, I hadn't meant to ask her but the words just….happened, Now I couldn't even look at her.
"Are you asking me if I have ever had sex?" She said quietly, I looked up and she was biting her lip. She looked like she would be blushing, I was.
"You don't have to answer that."
"I haven't." She said even more quietly.
"Really?" I started to smile at that, too happy about that fact.
What do you think that she would have sex with you?
"Yer. Have you?"
"No, I told you that I haven't ever had a girlfriend." She shrugged.
"Society has changed."
"Well I haven't ever been drunk of stoned either." I smiled. She laughed.
"Good, drugs and alcohol are bad." She smiled and nodded. "Why haven't you."
"Which one?"
"Sex."
"I believe in true love." I said trying not to blush, which was dumb of me because I believed in what I was saying. "I always wanted to wait until I was married."
"I don't think that there is anything wrong with that, that is why I have never had sex." We were quiet for a moment.
"Would you ever change me?" I asked quietly but she heard every word. Her head snapped towards me and she raised her eyebrow.
"What?"
"Would you even change me?" I said louder.
She hesitated, her facial expression torn. "I couldn't watch you die. If I knew that there was something that I could do – if that was the only way, than probably I would. If you had told me that you didn't want that I like to think that I would not bite you/
"Only if I was dying?"
"Dunno, why do you ask?"
"I want you to change me."
"You still – you don't know what you are asking." She still hadn't shook her head yet, that gave me hope.
"I know enough. I know what I want."
"Why do you want this?" I took a breath and sat up straighter.
"I want you."
Please review, I would write a Witty remark but I need to get writing on chapter fourteen of ASC. Thankyou to all of those how are adding this story to thier alerts and favourites. Much appreciated.