HEYA!
I am back with another chapter. God how long has it been? I am so sorry! I had school and then I got busy with another Fanfiction for Tumblr. I promise to finish this fic before taking another story.
Reviewers:
Kat Smith: OmG I am sorry about your dogs, lol. No, I love them! Hope you had a nice time and hope you like this chapter
Mira Black-Snape: It's fine! Sorry for updating do late!
"I heard your mom couldn't make it, I'm sorry." Renee said as I listened to her listlessly ramble on about her mundane, simple, normal, human life.
"Yeah…" I said, feeling someone come up behind me. I turned around and returned the smile Edward gave me as he settled next to me, leaning against the wall.
His fingers, long and nimble reached out to grab a lock of hair that I'd worn down, twirling it gently around a single finger, curling it with a small smile hovering around his full lips as he heard Renee speak on.
"I don't want you to feel down though. Charlie, Phil and I will be there. Bella and Stephen will be there. The Cullens will be there and all your friends will be there. You'll have fun; you won't even notice she isn't there." She said soothingly.
I glanced at my boyfriend to see his smile falter as his eyes shot up to me looking concerned, "Your mother," he mouthed and I shrugged, trying to play it off.
His eyes stayed on me as I replied.
"I know; I'll be fine, Renee, thanks for this." I said.
"Of course, we'll see you soon. Love you, honey," she said.
"Love you too," I mumbled as I hung up on her, sighing and running a hand through my hair, tugging it out of Edward's hold.
I held up my hands to my face for a few seconds before dropping them, smiling grimly at him.
I'd made it out as if it didn't matter to me that my own mother wouldn't be there to see me graduate, something I would be doing only once in my lifetime. I had to grin and bear it though and even though I'd tried very hard to keep it from Edward's skills, he must've known about it. Mind reading aside, he was extremely perceptive and the one thing he always observed was me.
His lips moved as he mumbled something to himself, too low for me to understand as he laid out his palms for me to take. I put my hands in his and let him pull me into the gently embrace of his warm arms.
He held me gingerly as if he was afraid something would snap. One arm wrapped around my waist, he cradled my head against his chest as he swayed lightly, rocking us.
"Hey, what's wrong with her?" I heard Charlie say in a gruff voice and Edward looked up. "Her mother," he said gently and Charlie fell silent as he walked to me, putting a hand on my elbow.
"Don't worry about it, kid. Things are tough at home, she's still proud of you though." He said in a low tone. I smiled at him morosely as Charlie let Edward wrap me in his arms again before I pulled away.
"We should go and study." I said.
I walked out of the kitchen and headed up the stairs feeling the worried gazes of both men on my back for different reasons.
The next few weeks passed with Stephen and me both trying very hard to not drown in the amount of work exams demanded from both of us; we barely even saw each other.
Edward and Alice both made sure that I stayed afloat with all the workload, probably because they felt bad about our circumstances but I tried not to see it like that, especially since then I had to think about what Steph was going through and that just made me feel guilty.
Edward and I stayed holed up in my room for hours. Studying, of course and since he spent a few nights over when he could, he would try to stay up with me while I poured over my books.
It was still too much and I still felt like I had failed every subject.
It got so bad that by the time my last exam fluttered by I was walking out of the hall with a stern scowl spread all over my face. Edward fell into step beside me but didn't say anything as he read the heavy cloud of doubt hanging over my head.
"What's wrong, love? We just finished out final exams. You should be happy." he sighed finally when we were out of the school grounds, walking to his car.
"Surely you can read what's wrong with me," I gritted.
"I could, but you find that invasive." He reminded me.
I shot him a wrathful look as I lowered my shoulders. "I failed everything." I grumbled. He immediately protested.
"That's impossible. You have worked extremely well and you studied more than me," he said.
I snorted. "That's because you're smarter than me and also you know everything in the book a hundred times." I said.
"While that may be true; I don't believe you failed." He unlocked the Volvo as Alice chimed in, skipping to join my other side.
"He's right. You actually passed all the classes with good marks." She smiled elfin.
I gave her a suspicious look as Edward opened my passenger door, trying to usher me in. "Hang on, I did?" I asked. Alice nodded. "You've been feeling so down lately, I took the liberty of checking into the professor's checking schedule and making sure I saw you passing." She said.
"Oh," I said, feeling a bit lighter as I slid into my seat, Edward shutting the door with a small grin on his face as they both got in as well, driving off.
Stephen dropped his head with a groan in his hands.
"What?" I looked up startled.
"Nothing; it's just I got nothing to go on." He said, letting the files about the off shore banks we'd collected on Sorenson to fall on the floor. I frowned at him.
"What are you on about?" I asked.
"Listen, even if we do go to these banks and tell them we are his relatives, you know there is no way they would tell us anything about what kind of assets he had or has in them. It's illegal on their parts and if we get caught by the police, we're officially screwed. Even if somehow Alice sees us in jail and they get us out we've got a lot to explain and trust me, they're not going to be happy with us."
"I suppose we could take Alice and Jasper with us." I pondered, biting my lip.
"Who's going to watch your boyfriend, then?" he asked.
I pouted. "I'm telling you, it's way too much. Even you can't handle this much, Tulika." He muttered.
I looked up at my best friend with hopeful eyes. "What's the harm in trying though, right?" I asked. He glared at me before plopping down on the floor in front of me. "A lot but what the hell, anyways…" he mumbled.
Jacob dropped the creased pillow cover on the table.
I took it and looked up at him curiously. "The pack has the scent memorized. If we come across it, we'll have the bastard by the throat." He drummed his fingers on the table. "The only thing that smells like now is wolf and trust me, if they smell that they wouldn't want to hover over you, a friendly or not." Jacob continued his eyes darting to my boyfriend who was staring at the pillow cover with his nose slightly wrinkled.
I swiped it off the table to the floor.
I'll wash it. I mentally promised him and he shrugged before looking at Jacob. "Do you understand what we want?" he asked.
Jacob scratched the back of his neck. "I do. What I don't understand is, why not talk to Sam about this?" he asked. "We are, Carlisle is personally going to do it," I said. He nodded, his lips pursed as he stared at me. "You're sure it's an army?" he asked. I nodded, gulping as the movie version of the book played in my hand. The stupid red lenses now seemed a lot more ferocious now.
"How's the patrol?" I asked.
"It's fine. We're cutting back, since it's been quiet now and since you're more than enough aware and capable." He stretched back but I didn't miss the dark shadows in his golden skin.
I clicked my tongue.
"If we are to train you to properly battle newborns, Jacob you will need your rest. The whole pack will," he said. "I know, I know," Jacob yawned again. "You all will," I whispered. I shivered lightly at the thought of the people I loved to actually fight an army than just reading about it and I reached out my hand to grasp Edward's tightly, looking at him concernedly.
He looked at our hands then up at my eyes, his eyes softening ever so slightly as he squeezed my hand, pulling it into his lap as he met Jacob's eyes.
"We would still like to know Ephraim Black's grandson's opinion." He said finally.
"If it means protecting Tulika, count me in. count us all in." he stood up, looking at us awkwardly. I laughed. "Go sleep Jake; I'll call you later, ok?" I said.
He shot me thumbs up and walked out the hall as I turned to Edward only to be met with his lips. I closed my eyes, falling into his touch. His hands came up to cradle the back of my head as he tugged lightly on my hair, a small moan falling from my lips but he grinned and pulled away, tipping my head back to kiss my jaw line.
"You worry too much." he chastised.
The next few days Stephen and I spent with the Cullens as the allies they had called would arrive and they needed to know exactly why we were so concerned. I was grateful that it was only the Cousins, or else the other vampires would want to know about us as well and I wasn't sure I could handle that.
"Boom," I nearly screamed as I blew up Jasper.
"Shucks, she got you good, bro!" Emmett howled as Stephen threw me a withering look. "I can't believe you just took him down like that. Have some mercy," he grumbled as Jasper slid a wad of cash discreetly to Emmett or so he thought, behind my back.
As we played video games, behind us the Cullens…did whatever they did I suppose. Alice and Rosalie were huddled around a computer. Edward was watching us with a half bemused look on his face from his piano stool while he softly played to himself and Carlisle and Esme were at the back, having a conversation over a game of chess.
Suddenly, everyone but Stephen and I stiffened, their ears pricked up. They didn't even complain when I destroyed Emmett and I felt an arm wrap around my waist, hoisting me up off the floor.
I looked at Edward with a dropped jaw but he was staring at the door. "They are here." He said as they all got to their feet.
I frowned, wriggling out of his hold. "God, Edward, it's just the cousins. I've seen them remember. They didn't hurt me then, they won't hurt me now." I said.
"They're not alone." I heard Alice say and I turned to look at her questioningly as Carlisle went to let them in.
In a matter of second, the trio of platinum blond triplet vampires was standing in the living room, followed by the dark skinned Carmen and Eleazar and to my growing surprise, a tall man with smooth dark skin and ebony hair followed.
"Laurent," Edward hissed.
He looked up and firstly met my gaze, a small ironic smile twisting his beautiful features. "Tulika…I must say it's a…pleasure to see you again." He said his accent thick.
Within second, Edward was in front of me, a protective snarl falling from him but Irina was quick to reach out for Laurent just as I wrapped my own arms around his, tugging him back.
If Laurent could be polite so could I...
"Hello Laurent, I hope you're well." I said.
Edward threw me a disbelieving look. I shook my head at him to show I could handle it.
"Please, he's changed. He means her no harm." Irina said and I nodded pointedly at Edward. He grunted but didn't move away from me, wrapping his arms around me again and holding me to his chest.
I sighed, giving Stephen a 'now' look. "I think you all need to have a talk. Stephen and I will show ourselves out."
"You're not going anywhere. I'm not letting you out of my sight right now." Edward said.
I patted his cheek. "How about you let me escape the awkward family fight talk and keep an eye on him?" I asked. "Tulika…" he began in a warning tone but I quickly pecked his lips and grabbed Stephen's arm, dragging him out.
"We'll take your car!" I sang back at him and he sighed, tossing his keys to me and I grinned rushing to his garage.
"You have the address, right?" I asked.
"Yes, but I still don't know what we're going to do." He said.
"Hopefully not a lot, we'll just ask not so nosy questions." I said in a soothing voice as I pulled out of their property, setting us on a highway rushing towards the bank J. Jenks had set for Sorenson.
I reached into my jacket and handed him Sorenson's red book. "Look the up the banking details. If we show we know a few things it might seem we're legit." I told him as I pulled in front of a grey steel façade.
I cut off the engine. "Let's hope he doesn't check the odometer." I said, pulling out the keys.
"Actually…I don't think we need to know when Sorenson's last withdrawal was to determine he's alive." Stephen said. I frowned, swatting his arm. "We're already here! Don't get cold feet now." I said.
I was about to open the door when his hand wrapped around my wrist, pulling me roughly back.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I screeched but he glared at me before nodding at the double doors of the bank. I turned angrily to see what he was looking at and froze.
Tall, thin, in a black suit and a frazzled brown coat…he looked thinner and paler, his beard more prominent as he peered into a pouch before zipping it up, looking around covertly. It was Roosevelt Sorenson; alive and in the flesh.
We watched him silently walk down the walkway and just sat there, stunned.
"Well…" I said.
"Yeah," Stephen agreed.
Can I just say I missed these characters more than I am willing to actually show!
Especially Edward! Sorry, not sorry.
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