A/N:

Hey guys! I know I'm late and I'm so sorry, but it is what it is with my move and everything, and I only have access to my small notebook computer which I absolutely hate to sit and write on, but I give you this chapter now and I hope the drama in it help you to forgive me

Story plot becomes more clear in this chapter ;-)

Title: The Undecided

Author: MarieCarro

Beta Reader: SarcasticBimbo

Genre: Supernatural/Drama

Pairing: Bella/Edward

Rating: NC-17

Summary: Good and Evil Witches. A Prophecy. An Unfulfilled Destiny. The Promise of a Leader. And it all rests on the shoulders of a "misunderstood" teenage girl.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Word Count: 3, 963

{Chapter 3}

Edward drove me home when it got dark, but when I saw that the lights were still on in the house, I felt reluctant to get out of the car. I knew that the fight I anticipated would be of epic proportions, and I also wasn't all too willing to be separated from Edward after our afternoon.

Still, I got out with a deep sigh, but procrastinated by rounding the car so that I was standing outside Edward's side. His window was rolled down, and I leaned forward to give him one last kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said with a grin when we parted.

"It's not soon enough," I replied, and it caused him to chuckle.

"I know." His grin fell and was replaced with a passionate look. "I love you, Angel," he said, and then revved the engine and drove away. I felt confused at his sudden departure. He had never left before I could reply in the past.

The flutter of the living room curtains caught the corner of my eye, and I knew I couldn't stall anymore. My parents knew I was home, and I had no choice but to go inside now.

I took one last deep breath to give myself some strength, and then started for the front door, which opened before I had put a foot on the first porch step.

In the doorway, Mom and Dad stood close to each other, but weren't really touching, and their expressions were surprisingly neutral. I had expected unspeakable wrath from both of them, but they didn't even appear angry.

"Isabella, join us in the living room," Dad ordered in an unusually calm voice.

My suspicion skyrocketed, but I nodded anyway and followed them inside. Something was off. I could feel it in the air.

As I entered the living room, I noticed that Mom's wooden chest had been opened and the contents puzzled me. I had always believed it was filled with memorabilia and heirlooms—when I was just a kid, I had imagined it to be the entrance to a fairy tale world—but now I saw stacks of thick, leather-bound volumes, candles of all shapes and sizes, empty glass bottles, and vials filled with colored liquids. What freaked me out the most, though, were the two very sharp daggers that were attached to the lid. They were glinting in the dim light of the room, and a surge of fear went through me when I wondered what was going on, and what my parents had planned with that chest.

"Honey?" Mom said and I looked over at her with wide eyes. "Come and sit." She patted the seat on our plush gray couch next to her, and I slowly did what she said.

"What's going on?" I asked, and the slight tremor in my voice revealed how worried I felt. They were both just so serious, and my eyes continually went back to the chest. "What's with the chest?"

Mom looked down at her hands. "Charlie and I have something to tell you, and we need you to enter this conversation with an open mind. It won't be easy for you to hear, but it's time."

I frowned and felt my pulse quicken. "What are you talking about?"

She looked back up at me. "I am talking about you and your destiny."

"My destiny?" I asked, and I was even more confused then I'd been the second before. "What destiny? To graduate from my own personal hell on earth?" My attempt at a joke fell flat, and I looked between my parents. I didn't understand what Mom was saying at all.

She shook her head. "No, it's something quite different from that." She turned and looked at Dad, but all he did was nod with the same serious expression as she wore.

"Honey," Mom started again. "Firstly, you need to know that your father and I..." She struggled with the words and appeared to be rather distressed. "We, uh … we're not your birth parents."

My jaw dropped and my eyes widened in disbelief. "What?"

Mom grabbed my hands in hers and squeezed, but I was too stunned to react. "We were assigned to raise you when your biological parents died. You were just a baby when it happened, and it was agreed that you needed to grow up in a safe home so that when the time came, the choice you have to make would be less difficult."

I stared at Mom and couldn't comprehend what she was babbling about. "I don't understand. What choice?" I was slowly getting angry, like I always did when there was something that was disconcerting me. "What do you mean 'assigned?'What the fuck are you talking about? You are my parents," I exclaimed as my voice built in volume in time with my growing anger.

Dad shook his head, and my eyes flew to him. "No, we're not. We're your Protectors."

"What?"

Mom sighed. "Charlie, how are we going to explain it? She's so young still. Will she be able to handle it?"

"She has to. We only have six and a half weeks until she has to be ready."

"Ready for what?" I still felt very angry, and it didn't help that they talked about me as if I wasn't there, but my anger was slowly withdrawing and gave room for panic to grow instead.

Dad met my eyes steadily, but the longer he waited to answer me, the more blurry he became, and I realized it was because my eyes had teared up. It was what always happened to me before I had a panic attack.

"To choose between good and evil," he finally said, and I was shocked into silence for a few seconds. When I felt my voice coming back to me I couldn't help the laugh that erupted.

"Okay, how many glasses of wine did you drink after dinner?" I asked with my laughter still evident in my voice, but the tears in my eyes remained because I was still terrified.

"He's not making a joke, Bella," Mom said, and I stood up from the couch and began pacing in front of them when my distress became too much for me to sit still anymore.

"Yes, he is, because if he's not, that means he's serious, and I don't know how to handle that." My laughter faded and my breathing became irregular as I stared at Dad. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you descend from two long lines of powerful Witches."

I stopped my pacing and alternated between looking at Dad and looking at Mom. Neither of them appeared to be joking, and it caused me to explode.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Are you crazy?" I screamed at them. "How can you say something like that?"

Dad didn't even blink as I screamed at him, and he remained uncharacteristically calm. "Because it's the truth, Isabella. Your birth parents were Witches, and you are one as well. It was time for you to find out."

He was slowly blurring out of sight, and I bent over and gasped for breath. My hands were clutching at my chest, and I tried to get as much air down my lungs as black spots began to appear in my vision. I knew I was hyperventilating, and that it didn't help the panic attack, but I couldn't calm down and control it. In just a few seconds, I would pass out.

Suddenly, Mom stood next to me with a paper bag in her hand that she handed to me. "Here," she said. "Just take slow and easy breaths."

I placed the bag over my mouth and did as she told me, and she continued to calm me down by stroking my back.

Eventually, my heart rate slowed down, and the black spots disappeared, but the feelings remained.

I was sitting on the couch again, leaning against Mom's shoulder, but I had no memory of her leading me there. Dad wasn't in the room anymore, and I wondered where he had gone.

"I don't believe you," I said, but Mom only answered by stroking my hair away from my face and humming a melody that echoed vague familiarity in my head. "That song … I recognize it," I mumbled.

"It's the lullaby your mother used to sing to you when you cried as a baby," she replied, and I froze up.

"Stop that! You are my mother!"

My tears started to fall from my eyes and Mom looked at me sympathetically and wiped them away with her fingers. "I'm sorry, Bella, but I'm not. Only on a spiritual level, and you need to accept that in order to embrace your destiny."

I hit her hand away from my face. I didn't want her to touch me anymore because it hurt too much. "I don't want my stupid destiny if it means I have to lose you!"

"You won't lose me, Bella," she said reassuringly. "I will always be here for you."

I couldn't stop crying, and Mom opened up her arms for me. At that moment, I didn't care about the million fights we'd had over the years, I just had to be close to her and feel her comforting warmth, so I crawled up beside her and let her hug me to her chest like she had done so many times when I was younger.

"Why are you telling me this now?" I asked against the skin of her throat.

"Because it was decided that you had to know after you'd turned eighteen. If your parents had been alive today, you probably would have found out sooner."

I sniffled and tried to calm down, but it took a long time for me to get my breath back to normal.

"What happened to them?" There were a gazillion questions in my head, but that was one of the things I had to know now. Why did they die?

"Do you really want to know? Do you think you can handle it?"

I shrugged. "Maybe not, but I have to know."

Mom sighed. "They were killed by Evil Witches who were after you."

I straightened up and frowned. "Me? Why did they want me? You said I was just a baby when they died."

Mom nodded. "Yes, but you see, there's this centuries-old prophecy about a double blessed baby descended from two powerful families that was to be born in the middle of the harvest moon cycle. This baby would become one of the most powerful Witches our world has ever seen. However, the powers would be so great that it couldn't be determined if they would be claimed for good or for evil. That choice would be up to the baby after maturity had been reached and it was all to take place on Samhain after its eighteenth year."

"What is Samhain?"

Mom smiled. "It's the original name for Halloween. That holiday is about so much more than trick-or-treating and collecting candy in plastic jack-o-lantern or pumpkin buckets. For Witches, it's the most sacred holiday of all because the barrier between our world and the spirit world is at its weakest, and it makes it possible to tap into the power and knowledge of our ancestors."

I was fascinated by what she told me, and wondered briefly if this was the reason why I was so in love with Halloween. I could remember how a former friend from elementary school had once asked me why I was always so excited for Halloween, but I had never been able to explain it.

"And the baby in the prophecy?" I asked carefully with a building feeling of unease. I already knew what she was saying, but I was still clutching at any straw of grass at that point.

Mom stroke my cheek lovingly. "Bella, you are the baby in the prophecy. That was why they wanted you. They killed your parents in hopes of taking you with them and raising you in evil. They didn't expect you to have such fierce protection spells cast around you, and before they figured out how to get to you, Charlie and I stopped them," she finished, and I felt oddly drained.

"And now you've raised me to choose good instead of evil," I stated. "Didn't the prophecy say that it was a choice I had to make?"

Mom nodded. "Yes, it is, which is why Charlie and I haven't raised you in either good or evil."

I felt so confused already, but I had to ask anyway. "What do you mean? You took me from Evil, so you must be Good, right?"

"Well, that's another thing you need to know. Charlie and I aren't really married. Both of us are Witches of the Old, which means we are Originals. We have retired our powers and ceased to age in order to direct and protect Witches new to the craft. Charlie is an Evil Original and I am a Good, which was why it was decided that we would raise you on neutral grounds until you came of age. We haven't inclined you in either way. The choice of which side you'll take still lies with you."

"So Dad is actually evil? Like, for real, evil?" I asked, and Mom smiled a small smile.

"We don't have our powers anymore, but our inclination doesn't depend on what kind of magic we perform. It's the core of who we are as people and Witches. Charlie is evil, but I can assure you that everything he has done toward you has been for your protection only."

I had so many questions, and I couldn't decide on where to begin. I wasn't ready to go deeper into the conversation about my destiny, and therefore, I opted for finding out more about the people I had always seen as my parents.

"What does it mean that you are Originals?"

Mom stood up and chose a book from the chest. When she came back, she placed it in my lap, and I traced the beautifully golden ornate cover with my finger. "This book is the history of Witches. It explains everything, but I will tell you anyway. Being an Original means that my coven, as well as Charlie's, were one of the very few covens that existed in the beginning. We came to be at the same time as the first humans."

My eyebrows shot into my hairline. "Wow, you must be very old," I burst out without thinking, and when I realized what I'd said, I placed my hand over my mouth.

Mom laughed at me, and I was relieved to see that she wasn't offended by my careless comment. "Yes, we've lived many lifetimes alongside many Witches across the world."

"Did you know each other from the beginning?" I was so curious to find out the truth to how my parents had met, since what they had told me before was a huge lie.

"We knew of each other, but Good Witches and Evil Witches usually stay separated. Our values clash too much," she replied and winked.

I giggled, and the realization that I was having a good time with my mom made me smile even wider. It was such a rare occurrence. "Are your names really Charlie and Reneé?"

She shook her head. "No. It's the names we chose for this century. Our real names are not possible to pronounce in any modern day tongue."

There was a silence that stretched between us for a couple of minutes as I knew that she was waiting for me to ask her more about the prophecy and my destiny, and I knew I couldn't stall any longer.

"What will happen after I've chosen?" I asked, but I felt scared to know the answer.

Mom cocked her head to the side and gazed at me tenderly. "It depends on which side you choose. Either way, you will become a leader, and those underneath you will follow the new order of life."

I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them tighter. "I'm not much of a leader," I mumbled quietly, but she heard me.

"I believe you have many qualities inside of you that are just waiting to come out. Don't doubt yourself, honey. You're destined for great things."

I decided to let that go, because she didn't understand. I had never been a leader, and I never could be. I was a follower. I needed guidance, and without it, I was lost. What kind of leader could I ever be if I couldn't lead?

"Were my parents good or evil?" There was no end to my questions, and this one I felt could possibly help me with the choice I had to make in only six weeks.

Mom shook her head. "I'm not allowed to say. It can affect your choice too much. It has to be your choice alone."

I threw my arms into the air in frustration and glared at her. "And how exactly am I supposed to choose?"

She gestured to the wooden chest. "The chest belonged to your parents. It has been passed down through generations in your family, and now it belongs to you. In it, you'll find everything you need for rituals, spells, potions, a few crystals, and of course, the daggers. From this night and up until Samhain, Charlie and I are going to teach you everything about the craft. When the night is upon us, hopefully, you will feel where your heart lies."

"Hopefully," I mumbled, and then a thought occurred to me. "By the way, where is Dad?"

"He felt that I would be able to explain this to you in the best way. He became too impatient when you almost fainted, but you know how he is."

I rolled my eyes at that. It was classic my dad, and it felt good to know now that he was that cold because he was legit evil.

I thought back on my day and couldn't help but to laugh. It was surreal. I had been threatened with suspension, given my virginity to my boyfriend in the backseat of his car, and found out I was adopted and a Witch. I couldn't exactly say that happened every day in a teenager's life.

"What's funny?" Mom asked.

"This day started out so very normal, and now all of a sudden, everything's changed. It's a lot to take in, but I guess I always sensed I was different." The truth rang strong in my words as soon as I said them. I had never truly fit in anywhere until I found Edward and his friends, and even then I had felt slightly out of place. Not as much as usual, but there was still a lingering feeling of it.

Mom nodded. "Yeah, and about that, there's one more thing, and I know you won't like it."

I was instantly on guard and waited for what she would say.

"I'm afraid you have to stop seeing Edward for a while."

I blanched. "Excuse me, what?" I asked for confirmation even though I'd heard exactly what she said.

"I'm sorry, honey, but you have so much to learn and six weeks isn't very long. You can't afford any distractions at all during this time. Charlie is going to call Mrs. Greene tomorrow and pull you out of school, and we'll move to the summer cabin where you can practice uninterrupted."

"You mean I am going to be stuck in the cabin for six weeks without friends and no boyfriend? That's crazy! I can't just abandon everyone! They'll wonder where I am," I insisted.

Mom shrugged. "I'm sorry, but it's the way it has to be."

"No!" I disagreed. "I won't do that, and especially not toward Edward. Not after tonight," I blurted out, again without thinking.

Mom frowned. "What was so special about tonight?"

I bit my tongue and just gaped at her. It didn't matter that I'd just found out she was more my mentor than my mother, it was still awkward to tell her about what I'd done intimately with my boyfriend. "Uh..." I just couldn't get the words out.

"Bella, it's me. You can tell me anything."

I hesitated but decided to just do it. How angry could she really become over something so simple as the fact that I wasn't a virgin anymore? "I gave myself to Edward."

Mom's eyes widened. "You did what?"

"I slept with Edward."

"Did you use protection?"

I felt a bit confused, because while I understood her concern, I can't say that was the first question I expected to get from her after my revelation. "Um, why?"

"Just answer me."

I swallowed as I suddenly felt very ashamed. "No, we didn't. It wasn't planned. It just sort of happened."

I saw anger in Mom's eyes, but it wasn't directed toward me. She stood up and walked to the base of the stairs while mumbling something that sounded like: "Not planned, my ass." I had never heard her curse like that before, so I thought I must have imagined it.

"Charles! Come down here this very second," she yelled, and it was obvious she meant business.

Dad descended the stairs intentionally slow. "What are you screaming for, Renee?"

"Oh, I don't know," she replied sarcastically. "How about I just found out that one of yours has tainted Bella."

Dad looked skeptical. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Edward."

As soon as I heard his name, I stood up and walked up to my parents. "Look, he didn't taint me," I tried. "It was consensual. It was I who initiated it."

"Are you saying that you had unprotected sex with Edward tonight?" Dad asked, and it felt creepily strange that his reaction was actually amused. Not at all what you expected from your father.

"Yes," I simply answered and the smirk I'd seen the hint of broke out on his face.

"Well, I didn't think that boy had it in him," he said and sat down in his chair.

"This is not funny, Charlie! You know what this means!" Mom continued to scream.

"Just chill, Renee. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Mom refused to calm down. "For you it will because that boy has made her more inclined to evil now! I tolerated it with her friends because they never did anything, but Edward went too far!"

I didn't understand what they were talking about at all, but it was starting to freak me out. "What the hell are you talking about?" I asked as calmly as I could, and both of them turned to me. "How can I be more inclined toward evil by sleeping with Edward?"

Mom sighed. "Bella, I didn't want to have to tell you this, but after what you just told me, I have no choice." She paused to grab both of my hands in hers and squeezed them lovingly, but this time I pulled away from her. I didn't like what she was saying, and until she told me the truth, I wasn't going to play nice and pretend it didn't bother me that she talked about my boyfriend like that.

"Edward is an Evil Witch. By having unprotected sex with him tonight, you made yourself vulnerable, and when the act was completed, he released dark magic inside you. Not much, but enough for your choice to be swayed."

I stopped her right there. "Hold on. Did you just say that Edward's an Evil Witch?"

She nodded. "Yes."

A/N:

Some of you thought that Edward was the devil after the last chapter, and I guess I can't blame you for coming to that conclusion. Actually it thrilled me because it told me I've done a good job at making him appear evil.

For those of you who have not read Battle As Old As Time, was this something you expected or were you taken by surprise? Let me know! I love hearing your thoughts