The Haunting of Bella Swan

Chapter Thirty-Four

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Sometime later, when Bella came to on the cold tile of the shower, Edward lay beside her with his eyes closed. Confusion gave way to fear as she realized her right arm phased from her wrist to her fingertips. She looked toward where her fingers should be, only to find them inside of Edward, and his curled around her heart.

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Bella did her best to fight the panic tightening her lungs and threatening to paralyze her mind and body. If Edward awoke suddenly, unaware of what happened while they slept, he could easily kill her by squeezing her heart. She hadn't startled awake, because a part of her knew she had partially phased. Her phased hand rested on Edward's sternum and though it should've alarmed her, it comforted her to know she could move away without hurting him.

Her hand turned corporeal to flesh, bone, and blood as it left Edward's body. She had to bring out Edward into the waking world for him to do the same without hurting her.

In the softest whisper, she spoke to him. "Edward, my love, what are you doing?" She knew from the time they slept together that he could hold a conversation with her while she asleep and vice versa.

"I can feel your heart beating," he replied. A look of pure serenity and peace came over his facial features. His words explained why the life-affirming need had renewed while they slept.

Doing her best to keep her heart rate normal, she continued to murmur in a soft voice. "It tickles, Edward." She added a giggle if only to ease his mind and hers.

"I'm sorry." A line formed between his brows. "I wanted to be sure you were still with me. You disappeared."

Damn it, she thought. She really needed to get some more control. If she had phased out completely in front of him, of course, he'd seek a way to be sure she was still alive. Ground her in a way. Why not take my hand, babe?

The scene, though vastly different from when she killed a man with her phased hand wrapped tightly around his black heart, appeared morbid as fuck. They were on the cold wet tile of her bathroom, their clothes scattered around them, with Edward's hand, up to his wrist, in her chest. It gave a whole new meaning to "joining their bodies".

She kept her shudder from moving through her and continued soft words. The tips of her fingers swept delicately along the top of Edward's wrist. He sighed, still deep in slumber. Every so slowly, she pulled out his hand, keeping her touch gentle enough to prevent stirring him awake. She whispered her love, humming one of the many lullabies he'd composed over the centuries.

Just as the tips of his phased fingers started to pass through the last few layers over her sternum, Edward startled awake. She screamed, the scent of blood and then pain brought darkness to eyes once more.

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Edward sat up and clutched Bella to his chest, his hand slick with her blood. "What the fuck? It wasn't a damn dream. Fuck!" He grabbed around, looking for something to staunch the blood flow coming from the wound he inflicted. "Baby, talk to me. Wake up, Bella!"

Her head twisted to one side, her mouth thinning. "Keep putting pressure, it's only skin deep."

Relief flowed through him, but it did nothing to dissipate the guilt burning through him. "What the fuck are we supposed to do now?"

She popped one eye open. "Not panic for one."

"This isn't funny, Bella. If had woke up while you coaxed my hand out midway through, you wouldn't have survived."

"And neither would you." She said the words so casually, and it angered him.

"Just because we get a do-over doesn't mean we should prepare to fucking die in every life." He pulled back the remains of Bella's shirt and realized the wound was healing. Keeping himself in control, he helped her up and wrapped her up in fluffy gray towels, and carried her into the bedroom.

"Don't you get it, Bella? This is why we gave up eventually in our past lives. Overdoses, drinking ourselves into premature deaths, walking into traffic. The pain was too much. If we can break this vicious cycle, then when death comes for us, we'll be together and in peace."

She kept her gaze on his as settled her on the edge of the bed. "If we die in this life, now, we would never see our son." Hot tears trickled down her cheeks.

"Even if we hadn't known about him, do you remember how lost we are until we found each other in every life we've had together?"

She nodded. "There's only so much our souls could handle." As if they could imagine the shape of their battered souls, they each shivered.

Edward gathered her in his arms, settling her on his lap as he sat up against the headboard on the bed. "In some lives, we muddle through, hell, in a few we were okay, but others the pain of the missing piece stains our lives from the onset."

Bella shuddered in his arms, a hitch to her breath along his chest. She pulled back the towel wrapped around her to reveal three light pink scars in the shape of circles in the center of her chest.

She looked up at him, determination in her eyes. "We fix this now. We're the most powerful we've ever been."

Edward nodded in agreement, but he couldn't help but be wary. "We're also the most vulnerable."

"If they know where we are, it won't be long before they discover our son. Taking him before his time would be devastating."

A dark look entered Edward's eyes. "For everyone and everything within a hundred miles."

Of that, they knew because they were ticking time bombs.

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Bella awoke to the smell of bacon and coffee in the air. "He cooked breakfast, thank you, Universe." She cooked well, but sometimes, she simply forgot or was too lazy to bother. Cooking for one sometimes seemed like too much trouble.

She stretched, arms above her head, eliciting an appreciative groan from the doorway of the bedroom. Edward walked in with a tray full of various food and drinks. "Good morning."

"Morning," she whispered, crooking her finger for him to come closer. "Just what I needed to start the day."

He smiled, leaning down to kiss her soft lips, but she bypassed him for a cup of coffee. She giggled at the pout he sported. "I see how it is."

"I haven't brushed." She batted her lashes and reached for some bacon. "Come sit with me. I can tell Jasper has been by."

He huffed and handed her the tray and settled beside her. "Yeah, he dropped off most of the items on your list." Edward lifted a glass of orange juice for a drink. "The last few are a little scarce so he's tracking them down now."

"The bone of soldier," she muttered. "Hopefully he knows how to extract it without disturbing the burial site."

"How is it you know more about magic than I do?"

Bella shrugged. "My mother and my father. I think my mother's kind has genetic memory, combined with an Immortal's blood, it's also instinctual."

"And my ass was just a lonely knight," Edward stated, remembering the grueling training he'd been through.

"Which is why you'd likely know how to fight well, so not 'just a lonely knight', Edward. You need to give in to your instincts, you've been fighting them because they're unknown. If my memory serves me right, you were a brilliant problem solver and strategist. We need to see our son while keeping his whereabouts a secret from the council."

"We also need to face them."

"Yes, we do." To do that, they needed to remember everything, even the memories she intentionally hid from herself. It was a matter of mental health.

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"How will this work?" Jasper continued to pace as dusk fell away to night. Bella had put up a wall to keep the spell from him, though he didn't blame her. She was working with an intricate spell, with dark magic woven within.

"Wherever Edward and I go from now on, anyone intending to hurt us or even spying on us will suddenly forget why they were in the area, or get diarrhea. Not sure which, my memory isn't perfect. It may be a combination of both."

Edward groaned in disgust. "Great, there's now at least a dozen of them on our front lawn."

"How are we supposed to test it?" Jasper turned to the window and looked out to find Edward was correct. Thirteen demons stood on the front yard and driveway. Bella had him erect a glamouring spell to keep any nosey neighbors driving past from seeing them. They would raise too many questions and a demon could hold them hostage.

"I will." Edward stood beside Jasper and shook his head. "If it doesn't work, you and Bella will pull me back to safety."

Bella hesitated for a moment but agreed. "All right." She lifted Edward's hand, kissing his knuckles, and closed her eyes. "Please be careful."

"Of course." Foreheads pressed together; they shared a quiet moment. She pulled back first, slipping a thin rope necklace around his neck. The teardrop pendant seemed to hold a million different colors.

"The rope is unbreakable. They rip it away from you. If you need an immediate blast of the force, squeeze the pendant in your palm. The force field will become physical but it only lasts few moments and the pendant will need to be recharged. So only use it when absolutely necessary."

"Ready?" Jasper asked, holding the front door open. Beyond the threshold, the demons, possessing people of all walks of life and color, circled the porch. Each of them growling and menacing. Their eyes black, soulless, and deep.

"Come out, come out, little meat suits," one said with a voice that sounded more like a croak. "We only want to play a little."

Edward placed a soft kiss on Bella's forehead and stepped away. With a roll of his shoulders and neck, he walked through the open door. Instantly he felt a magical rope wrap around his waist, a precaution to pull him back inside if the spell didn't work.

Bella squared her shoulders and wrapped the rope around one arm, using her free hand to give Edward a little slack. Jasper held on to the same rope, watching the demons' reaction as Edward started toward them.

The demons shook their heads, growled and groaned in what appeared to be confusion and possibly pain.

"Is this hurting the hosts?" Jasper asked.

"It's not supposed to be like this. My memories didn't have all the details."

"Probably need to do something about that."

Bella rolled her eyes. "I will put it on my To-Do List that seems to be as long as my To Read list."

"You two fight like siblings." Edward wanted to smile, but being close to so many demons made his skin itch and his blood simmered with the need to hunt.

"Do not," Bella and Jasper said in unison. They looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

Bella shook her head. "You still have the power to bring the tension down. Thanks, Jay."

"No problem. How are you doing, Edward?"

"Uh, they look really fucking confused but more aggressive than ever." And they were closing in on him.

"I was afraid of this." Jasper gently pulled the rope. "Start walking backward slowly. Running will only trigger their hunting instinct."

Edward did as Jasper suggested, but the move had each demon stop twisting in confusion and hyper-focus on him.

"Fuck, squeeze it, Edward!"

Just as he grabbed the pendant, a demon lunged toward him. The second it contacted his arm, it hissed in pain, smoke rising from its skin. He didn't feel a thing.

Edward squeezed hard and Bella screamed from inside, held back by Jasper, who pulled the magical rope hard. He felt the tug around his gut as he was yanked back as the demons screamed in agony.

They fell to their knees, and their heads fell back, gazes on the darkened sky. Something dark and viscous leaked from their mouths, turning into a cloud of black smoke that smelled of fire and sulfur.

Bella gagged, the scent choking her, as she wrapped her arms around Edward and pulled him inside the house. Jasper slammed the door shut, but his hands were bloody from the magical rope.

They watched in horror as all the humans, no longer possessed by a demon, all fell to their backs or sides. Their eyes remained closed, and they appeared to be panting.

"So, that's what it meant by purging or diarrhea. It instantly exorcised the demons." Bella scratched her head and tried to concentrate. "But why didn't it work for protection. It lured them to him."

Jasper washed his hands under some running water, watching the blood run down the sink. "I don't know, but maybe the pendant is a one-hit-wonder."

"I'm fine, thank you very much." Edward sat up against the wall near the front door. His heart was still in his stomach, his guts twisting. "Just in case either of you wanted to know."

Bella grimaced and crawled onto his lap, pressing a kiss to his pout. "Sorry, I'll stow the magic for a bit."

Edward wrapped his arms around her. "I think the spell needs to be tweaked. Now any idea how to handle the thirteen people that are about to wake up on the front lawn?"

Jasper pulled back the blind to see outside and winced. "We have another problem. The pendant decimated my glamour spell it appears."

"Fuck." Bella stood up from Edward's lap and looked out.

A nosey person who drove by held up a phone, recording or taking pictures of the people passed out in her yard.

"Neighbor?"

Bella nodded. "She lives about half a mile down the road."

"Any ideas on how to stop that from going on the internet?"

Bella's magical tattoos on her arms glowed, making Edward and Jasper look around. A strong spiritual presence was nearby.

"Did you even miss me, bitches?" Jane sneered and sat on Jasper's shoulders, all casual-like. "Heard you needed a little help with technology."

Bella blew out a sigh of relief. "I forgot, I made exceptions to my wards to let James, Jane, Shelley in."

"You guys all right?" Edward looked at Jane and relieved to find she looked normal… for a ghost. No more demonic black eyes or cracks in her pale face.

"The others are still recovering but they'll be back to haunt your asses soon enough." She cracked her knuckles, making Jasper shudder and wince. "Sorry, blondie. I can't help but ride you."

Edward groaned. "What is wrong with all of you? Stop messing around and let's get shit done."

Jane saluted, rigid and stern-looking. "Yes, Sir." She stage-whispered to Bella, "He's awfully grumpy for someone who now gets off daily with you."

Bella shrugged. "He's in protective mode, it'll be a while before he comes down from it."

Edward crossed his arms over his chest and cocked an eyebrow. "You done?"

Jane disappeared, instantly reappearing beside Nosey Nancy outside. The blonde woman, in her late thirties, was both scared and fascinated. She whispered a soft, "Boo!"

Nancy McGuire startled, dropping her phone, and spun around to see who had whispered in her ear. For months, she thought there was something weird about the owner of the old home near her property. Now she had proof, and she dropped her phone! She immediately picked it up. A crack along one side resulted from dropping it, but the camera app was no longer up on the screen. Instead, a digital face straight from nightmares stared back at her. The face moved from side to side, its thin lips lifting in one corner. "Boo!" Nancy screamed, dropping her phone and hightailing it back to her SUV.

"Keep this to yourself, and I won't haunt you, darling!" Jane clapped and wiped her hands together and flashed to the others. "That ought to do it."

"Thanks," Edward muttered as he stood on the porch with the others. The people stirred in their yard. "What about them?"

Bella sighed. "Some will remember everything and some will not."

"Some aren't from anywhere near here." Jasper ran a hand through his hair. "We may need to find out where they're from and help them get back."

Bella nodded. "I'll get some drinks and food together. Don't let them inside."

Jasper and Edward looked at her. "Why?"

She gazed at each person on the ground. "One of them is still possessed. Stronger than the others, but it's suppressed, weakened by the spell. We need to lure it out and find out what the hell the council wants."

AN: Yup, I'm still here. Finally getting some writing done. Hopefully, I can keep coming to the cafe for some quality writing time. Real-life is super busy and I have two kids moving soon to college, so far away from me. This of course means, college tours, last-minute trips, lots of Zoom meetings with financial aid counselors. This was not betaed, if you see something that's really off, let me know in a PM or message me on Facebook, thanks!