A/N:

Quite a few of you had strong reactions over the last chapter. What do you think Renee and Charlie will say now? Read and find out :)

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: 2, 907

{Chapter 8}

The next morning, I stared at the two people I used to call my parents across the breakfast table and without pulling any punches, I asked the million dollar question. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Both of them stopped eating and looked at me questioningly.

"What are you talking about, Isabella?" Charlie put his cup of coffee down on the table and clasped his hands together.

My eyes wandered back and forth between them and I decided to be completely truthful. "Edward was here last night."

Renee's eyes widened and she turned her head toward Charlie as if he was the reason Edward had been here.

"Apparently he was led her by a spell of mine. I didn't even know I'd cast it, but that's not the point." I paused and took a drink from my own coffee. I wanted my mentors on edge and nervous because it would make it easier for me to see through their lies. "He told me some interesting things about my parents."

Both of their eyes brightened with understanding. They knew I knew.

"He thought it was strange you hadn't told me what they were … so why didn't you?"

"It could have influenced—" Renee started, but I quickly stopped her when I knew what she was going to say.

"Stop giving me that bullshit!" I exclaimed. "You know that's not why. My parents were one of each so it wouldn't have inclined me either way to know. There is another reason, isn't it?"

Renee and Charlie exchanged a look and then turned back to me.

"It's true," Charlie admitted. "We didn't want to tell you because you would still believe a future with Edward was possible even if you were to choose Good. We didn't want to give you false hope."

I frowned. "What do you mean 'false'? My parents proved that Good and Evil Witches can be together, so why couldn't Edward and I be like that?"

"Your heart forces you to forget the key points in your parents' story," Renee answered me with a sad smile. "The only way they could be together was by giving up their powers and go into hiding. If the most powerful Witch of all time did the same for love, our society would collapse."

"Why?" I asked, starting to feel rather exasperated.

Renee kept steady eye contact with me as she finally gave me the full explanation. "The promise of a leader that so many have waited for has shaped our society to what it is today and it's a big reason that our kind can co-exist. I don't think you have truly grasped how important you are, Bella. You are destined to lead us into the new age."

I blinked and stared at her. "That's the most cliché thing you've told me since all this began," I said, but it only caused her to chuckle softly.

"But it's the truth. Despite it sounding like a badly written story, it's the life of those few chosen that have their destinies predicted."

I swallowed thickly and pushed my breakfast away from me. I wasn't hungry anymore. "It's not fair," I said quietly toward the tabletop like a small child. It hurt that I had to choose everyone else over my own happiness, which I could only acquire by being with Edward. He was my true love. I knew that now.

"Life's never fair," Charlie said. "Much less for leaders and you have to embrace that no matter what you want for yourself."

His words angered me. "As if you know what sacrifice entails," I spit out. "Evil Witches are selfish by nature and would never make a sacrifice unless they gain something greater from it."

Both of them gaped me, but I just stood up from my seat. "I'm gonna go read in my room," I announced and left the kitchen. I needed to be alone, because even though I understood what I'd been told, it didn't make my situation easier.

I had only been given another reason to choose Evil, and I was beginning to believe that perhaps that was what was meant to be. That I was still feeling insecure in that choice was because my very core told me it wasn't right.

I wasn't an evil person per se. Not like Edward and Alice who could obliterate someone with just one look and laugh at the same time. I guess I had less desirable qualities, like being selfish, envious, and sometimes quite greedy. I wasn't always grateful, and I had petty tendencies. However, there was a part of me that felt immense compassion, and I was trustworthy and loyal.

I stayed locked inside my room that entire day and read through pretty much every book I had. I buried myself in my magic studies, and I quickly mastered every spell in the two books that Renee had focused most on for the past two weeks. The books that Charlie claimed were for children.

The hours passed quickly and I must have fallen asleep at one point because when I woke up again, I was on my stomach, my cheek pressed against the pages of the book I had been reading, and it was black night outside my window.

I sat up and closed the book and began to take my clothes off so that I could go back to sleep, but then something in the garden caught my eye. It looked like the flame from a candle, but I couldn't understand why someone had lit a candle in the garden.

My curiosity was piqued, though, and I had to check it out. I put on an extra sweater since the air was quite cold outside now that we'd entered October, and made my way downstairs. I went through the kitchen and looked through the glass on the door, and the flame was still there so at least I knew that it hadn't been in my head because I was tired.

As soon as I opened the door, a cold gust of wind hit me in the face, and I realized that it was quite windy. However, the flame wasn't even flickering. It burned as if the element of air couldn't touch it. I instantly felt cautious because it was obvious this flame had been conjured with magic, and I knew that Renee and Charlie never left their candles burning like this, so it had to be another Witch. The only Witch who knew we were here, though, was Edward, but then again, if he could find us, I'm sure others could as well.

I approached the candle with care. My extra sweater didn't provide much warmth and I trembled slightly as the wind chilled me, but I just had to know what was the deal with this candle.

As I got closer, I noticed the candle was flesh colored and the smell coming from it was absolutely rancid. It made me want to gag, but I refrained from it and leaned forward to see better.

The candle was soaring mid-height, and there was a tag attached to the bottom of it. I was just about to reach out and touch it when I heard the door behind me burst open.

"Do not touch that!" Charlie exclaimed behind me, and I startled slightly at his raised voice and took several steps away from the candle. "Isabella, I need you to bring the candle inside without touching it physically. Can you do that?" he asked cautiously without taking his eyes off the candle, and all I could do was nod. I had read about a telekinesis spell and I knew it in theory, but I had yet to try it. I hoped I could make it work.

My hand was trembling slightly as I directed the heel of it toward the candle and started to chant.

Without touch

Move this object

To where I desire

I clearly felt the vibrations as the candle connected with me and ever so slowly, I began directing it toward the door to get it inside like Charlie told me, but then, Fire decided to be a brat and mess things up for me. I felt it when the element joined and made the flame burn brighter and larger. The heat burned my hand, and I almost lost my concentration.

The taste of Fire's amusement angered me, and with a new determination to put it in its place, I pushed myself harder and gave all my focus to the spell I was casting. When the element felt how firmly I stood my ground, it retreated peacefully and I relaxed slightly.

Finally, the candle was inside the house and Charlie directed me to place it on the kitchen counter. The smell of it was worse than it had been outside, and I really had to stop myself from throwing up.

Charlie stood several feet from the candle and studied it, but I could see that he knew what it was.

"What is it?" I asked when he didn't tell me on his own.

"It's Dead Man's candle," he said. "The wax is made from human fat and the wick is braided hair from decomposed bodies." He turned to me but didn't react to my disgusted expression. I felt so sick at this point that I was positive I must look a bit green. "It's one of the darkest forms of Black Magic. Its purpose is to kill whoever the candle maker has cursed, but it can only be activated by a powerful source. In this case, you."

I swallowed thickly in an attempt to keep the bile down. "Me? Am I the cursed or the powerful source?" It wasn't just the smell getting to me now. The entire conversation was disgusting.

Charlie shrugged. "Could be both, but you are definitely the source. How anyone knew you were here and where to place the candle so you would find it is what concerns me the most, though."

"Can anyone find me here?"

"They shouldn't," he replied, but he didn't sound too sure. "Only if they've been invited," he continued and then looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Don't look at me! I haven't invited anyone here. Only Edward knows and that wasn't on purpose." Charlie's scrutinizing look remained on me for a few more seconds and I was beginning to feel uncomfortable when he finally looked back at the candle.

"Maybe it was the boy. He does have his fair share of enemies he'd like to eliminate," he mused, but I was already shaking my head.

"No, Edward wouldn't use me like that. I know he wouldn't."

"How can you be so sure?" He was challenging me, but I didn't take the bait. I was loyal to Edward, and I knew in my bones that he wouldn't take advantage of my powers like that.

"Because he loves me," I answered firmly.

Charlie gave me a sinister smile, but I wasn't intimidated. I used to believe this man was my dad, and there was nothing he could do that would scare me. "You shouldn't hold on to that love too tightly. The boy is Evil after all."

I crossed my arms defensively. I wouldn't allow Charlie to play this type of mind tricks with me. "So? My mother was also Evil, and she loved my father enough to run away with him. Don't for a second believe you can fool me into thinking that Evil Witches cannot love. I know that's a pile of shit!"

Charlie simply shrugged and said no more on that topic. Instead, he started to leave the kitchen. "Dispose of the candle, but whatever you do, don't touch it."

I glared at him with irritation. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" I asked his back.

Without stopping or turning around he replied: "Well, you know plenty enough, I'm sure you'll figure it out."

My anger rose toward Charlie's blasé attitude, and I wanted to strangle him, but with a huff, I let him go and fetched my book about curses. Hopefully, I would be able to find some kind of counter-curse for this candle.

It turned out to be rather impossible, though, because nothing in the book told me what to do when dealing with magic this dark. There was an entire page dedicated to facts about the candle and what it did, but nothing about how to cast it, or how to reverse it. It told me that once the power-source touched the candle, it sucked the magic dry and the source became utterly powerless.

That was why it was so dark, because not only did it cause one's death, but it also deprived a Witch of its powers. I felt utterly grateful that Charlie was in time to stop me, but I also wondered if maybe the cursed wasn't the only target to whoever made this candle.

I was in desperate need of comfort at that point, and so I did the only thing that had ever helped me in the past.

I texted Edward.

"Are you awake?"

I placed my phone back on the counter and tried to calm down, but my mind was spinning with all the thoughts swirling around. A part of me thought that maybe a Witch knew about mine and Edward's relationship and thought that he or she would kill two birds with one stone before any laws were broken.

It felt like an eternity later when my phone finally vibrated, and I immediately snatched it up.

"Yeah, I'm out with the coven. Is something wrong?"

"How do you reverse Dead Man's candle?"

This time, his reply was instant.

"What the fuck are you doing with that kind of magic, Angel!?"

"It wasn't me! I found it in the garden. Luckily Charlie stopped me before I touched it."

My phone started to ring, and the display told me it was Edward. I didn't let a second pass before I answered.

"Edward?"

"Baby, this is some serious shit. Who would place Dead Man's candle in your garden?"

As a reflex, I shrugged even though he couldn't see me. "I don't know. The only one who knows we're here is you, and you haven't told anyone, right?"

"Of course not. Alice and Jimmy have asked about you, but I only told them you're preparing for your choice and they accepted that. They haven't asked me anything since."

"Then who?" My fear was seeping into my voice at that point. "Edward, I'm scared."

"Angel, I want to help you, but that kind of magic can't be reversed by one Witch. It has to be at least four, but preferably five, calling for each element. Including the Spirit Element."

I was almost about to cry when I realized that we were four, and I held on to the hope that it could be enough. "If you come over, we are four. You, me, Renee, and Charlie!"

"Renee and Charlie don't have any powers, and you're still an Undecided. The reversal spell wouldn't be at its full force even with four mature Witches. In this situation, it's pretty much impossible without a fifth," Edward insisted, but I wasn't giving up my idea.

"Maybe it wouldn't be possible with four normal Witches, but Renee and Charlie are Originals; some power has to linger inside them, and the prophecy says I'm the most powerful Witch of all time. That has to count for something, right?"

Edward sounded hesitant as he answered. "I don't know. I haven't heard of it being done before, and if it doesn't work, it could have severe consequences. The curse could attach itself onto one of us, or it could be activated and drain all of us. Do you really want to take that risk?"

I thought of the possibility that the curse attached itself to Edward and then activated, or if it drained me of my powers, and made me useless, and it pained me. But I couldn't just ignore the candle. It was like a ticking bomb. I had to disarm it.

"Taking life-threatening risks comes with the job I have to take soon."

I was met with silence on the other end, but I could hear Edward's breathing, so I knew he was still there.

"I don't want you to get hurt," he eventually said, and I understood his worry because I felt the same way. However, it couldn't stand in the way.

"I don't want you to get hurt either, but unless you know of another way to do this, it's what has to be done."

Edward chuckled sadly on the other end. "Do you know you already sound like a leader?" I didn't answer him and he sighed. "I can be there in thirty minutes."

"I'll see you soon, then," I said and hung up. It wasn't until after I put my phone on the counter that I realized I hadn't told him that I love him like we always finished our conversations.

I quickly grabbed my phone again and sent one last text.

"Thank you. I love you!"

I didn't take my eyes off the screen until I saw Edward's reply.

"I know."

A/N:

My beta said the most awesome thing about this ending right here and that was that Edward Han Solo'd Bella xD I guess he totally did :-P

So about this candle ... who do you think placed it in the garden? Do you think it's someone we know in the story as of right now or someone we have not yet met?

Tell me your thoughts! I love to read them and I'm sorry if I don't respond to all of them, but it's really hard to find the time!