A/N: Real quick, I want to thank all of you for the amazing encouragement I've received for TDP. Your reviews continually put a smile on my face! I also want to thank whoever nominated The Devil's Plan for a Twific Fandom Award. You made my whole year!

Giant hugs and warm chocolate chip cookies to my amazing team; Sazzledazzled, Mullet86, Edwardsfirstkiss and 2brown-eyes. Those lovely ladies support me and donate their time to help give my story life. I value them so much!

SM owns the entire Twilight world and I own six Twilight Saga Dvds. Six you ask? Yeah, I bought two Twilight vids because people wanted to borrow mine and I couldn't allow that!


The Devil's Plan

Chapter 11

Destiny

"What do you think about this one?" Edward shook his head at the puffy white shirt and the wig of black dread locks that passed for a pirate costume. In addition to the Jack Sparrow get up, he'd already turned down a musty and bedraggled Chewbacca and a yellow banana costume. The pickings were very slim at Pan's Theatrical Shop.

"Well, I don't know what we're going to do. There's nothing left. We waited too long." Bella's voice fell as did her hopes of her and Edward going to the party in matching costumes. As soon as Esme had enthusiastically approved the party, the planning had consumed most of Bella's free time. She'd put off finding a costume for too long and now she feared there was nothing left for her and Edward to wear.

"Maybe we just go as ghosts?" He offered with a grimace as he quickly hung up the costume he was holding, not wanting Bella to see it.

"No, that's too cliché. Wait, what was that?" Bella quickly walked over to the meager clothes rack and pulled out the black, high collared cape Edward had tried to hide. "This could work. You could be a vampire and I could be your willing victim." Bella offered with a wide smile and hopeful eyes. The idea of Edward going as a dark and broody vampire appealed to her in such a way that she couldn't quite explain yet couldn't deny it either.

"And ghosts are too cliché? Nothing is more cliché than a vampire-slash-victim ensemble," he said with mock accusation. Edward had to laugh when she turned to look at him. The look of non-amusement on her face was priceless.

"Laugh it up funny-man. We're going to be the worst dressed hosts ever!" Bella exclaimed, throwing her hands up in surrender. Her actions were funny but the look on her face was serious. Instantly, Edward felt badly about mocking her.

"Hey, there's got to be something here we could wear." Edward huffed and began to go through the all but empty racks in earnest with a smile on his face, hoping Bella would cheer up. Having a best friend was new to him so the intricacies of how the relationship worked often times eluded him but he had a fairly good idea that you weren't supposed to be content if your friend was upset. A fact made all the more important when that friend was a girl and the thought of Bella being upset made Edward physically ill. He would do almost anything to make her smile.

The scraping and clanging of the hangars as he hurriedly moved from one unacceptable option to another echoed in the costume shop, as its only two customers desperately searched for anything that didn't include fangs or fur.

Edward's search was interrupted by Bella's excited yelp. "Found something!" Edward looked up from a lame pilot uniform to see Bella standing in front of him with her hands behind her back. "Okay, I need you to keep an open mind-"

"Bella, just show me." While he wanted to make her happy, Edward was losing his patience with the Great Costume Search of 2016.

With a sheepish smile, she moved both arms revealing the two costumes she'd found and deemed acceptable.

Edward's mouth fell open in astonishment. How could she have randomly chosen the two worst possible choices?

"Stop! Before you say anything give me a chance to sell them to you. Think about this, me, short white dress with high, well smallish heels, fluffy wings and a golden halo and you could wear this." She pointed to the hangar in her left hand with hopeful eyes. Edward couldn't deny that the thought of Bella in a skimpy angel costume rung his bell in all of the right ways. But what she had planned for him was too much.

The tight black leather pants, dark, satin shirt with black leather jacket looked, to Edward, like the rejected clothes from a bad, Mad Max, photo shoot. "We could put some black eyeliner around your eyes, tousle your hair a bit and presto, you're the bad guy and I'm the angel. Good and bad. They're classic concepts," she said with a dimpled smile. While it appeared that her fantasy of seeing him in a silky, black cape didn't appear to be happening, she felt she'd found the next best thing. Bella was also hopeful that seeing her in something other than jeans and a sweater would open Edward's eyes to the fact that she was indeed a girl and thus girlfriend material. Of course, her fevered brain hadn't taken into account just how much of herself she'd be showing Edward and for that matter, most of their class. But at this moment Bella had no time for particulars. She would deal with them later.

Edward's mouth hung open in revulsion when she explained what his costume would represent. There was no way she could have voiced the words that would have cut him deeper. For too long he'd considered himself the bad guy. No, no way was he going to wear that.

"Bella, I can't-"He paused when her slim shoulders drooped in perceived defeat. Edward instantly swallowed his words of refusal. He was so tired of disappointing everyone. His friendship with Bella was more or less a clean slate. He couldn't allow it to end so soon because of his past. "-I can't wait to see you in that costume." He answered brightly with a fake smile that turned rapidly sincere when he saw a smile return to Bella's face.

"Oh, Edward, thank you!" He was unprepared for the weight of the happy girl as she flung herself at him in gratitude. His arms settled easily around her waist. He supposed he should have been a little alarmed at exactly how easily she fit into his arms, but he would deal with that later. His entire being melded with hers as he relished the physical contact. Edward closed his eyes and deeply breathed in her scent. It reminded him of how his house smelled after his mom had baked sugar cookies. For a moment, he allowed everything but the feeling of her body encasing his, to fall away. Edward stood in the middle of a nearly deserted costume shop on a rainy afternoon in Port Angeles, Washington as just a boy shopping for a costume to wear to a party he would be attending with the girl that brought the sunshine back into his dark life. Not the boy whose actions had brought so much darkness and ruin to two families. Much too soon Bella pulled away with a blush to her cheeks.

"Thank you! I was so afraid that I was going to end up wearing a Care Bear sheet toga." Bella's exuberance was catching. Edward couldn't help the smile that crept upon his face as his dark-haired friend skipped to the cashier's counter with the two costumes swinging in her hands.

Shaking his head in amusement, Edward followed Bella to the counter, wondering if maybe the Care Bear sheet togas were a real option.

~~TDP~~

"I'm so excited, Bella. I can't wait for you to see my costume." Angela gushed, barley able to contain her excitement. "I haven't dressed up for Halloween since I was eleven years old. "

"I'm glad you and Ben can make it. I wasn't sure how a party for our age group would go over." So far, Bella had been pleasantly surprised at the reception her and Edward's party had gotten from the Forks High School crowd. She'd received nothing but positive RSVP's for the party from all of her invitees, well, all but one. That guest was currently seated in the east corner cafeteria, staring at the Bella with sad eyes. Bella had been waiting for Alice's RSVP since the moment she slipped the shiny, black envelope into her locker. But two weeks had gone by and she'd heard nothing from her best friend. A part of her was worried that Alice wouldn't accept her invitation, choosing instead to leave their relationship in tatters.

"I get that. But I think Halloween is just as much fun for adults as it is for kids. What other holiday can you dress up in silly costumes? Plus, there's pumpkin carving and scary movies."

Finally, Bella thought, someone who shared her love for all things Halloween. "You like scary movies?" Bella asked, returning her attention to the girl sitting next to her. Angela's eyes widened in excitement as she nodded her head exuberantly.

"Are you kidding me? I love them! The creepier the better. Except I don't do dolls or clowns. Those things are definitely the work of the devil." Angela's thin shoulders shuddered in revulsion.

"Well, we definitely have that in common." Bella laughed. "But anything else goes?"

"Yep. I'm completely open to being scared witless. The scarier the better." The girls immediately put their heads together and began planning their Halloween movie program.

"Bella, may I have a word?" Jasper's request took Bella by surprise. She pulled away from Angela and turned to find him standing at her left elbow, a slice of chocolate cake in his hand. Not wanting to appear rude, hoping his presence was a good sign for her and Alice's relationship, she nodded her agreement

"Splendid." Jasper placed his cake on the table and pulled out the seat next to her. Even though he was acting in a non-threatening manner, Bella still had to curtail her fight or flight response. There was something about this boy that bothered her and she was afraid that it always would.

"What can I do for you?" Bella asked nervously. Her eyes shifted briefly to where Alice was still seated in the corner and wondered why she hadn't come over herself.

"I'm here on her request." Jasper said as if he could read her mind. "She didn't want her emotions to get out of hand in such a public place."

After the spectacle in the parking lot, Bella could understand her worry.

"We received your invitation to the All Hallow's Eve gathering. We would be delighted to attend."

"That's great. I'm glad you'll be there." She said sincerely. Bella felt relief that Alice had accepted her olive branch, despite Jasper's overly formal and weird speech.

"So, you've become quite close to young Cullen. That's good," he said, nodding his head in approval. His statement rankled Bella. She knew that he had said something to Edward that caused him to have a panic attack and even though Edward hadn't given her any specifics, her need to protect the boy that meant so much to her kicked into high gear when Jasper mentioned him.

"Why is that good?" Bella asked with more than a tinge of accusation in her tone. He always spoke as if what was going on in her life somehow affected his in such a way that he felt he could comment at will and it made her hackles stand on end.

Jasper regarded her thoughtfully before putting his hands up in surrender. "I meant nothing by the comment. Please do not become defensive." His plea only made her more defensive, making her shoulders tense even more. But remembering that her goal was to smooth things over, not dig bigger holes in her relationship with Alice, she kept her mouth shut.

As if sensing his comment had put her on edge, Jasper wisely moved to leave the table. "I hope you have a good day Bella. And again, thank you for the invitation. Oh and the cake is for you. Alice told me it was your favorite. Enjoy. " He threw over his shoulder as he walked away. Bella glanced over at Alice, who was smiling in her direction. Bella returned her smile, thankful that it appeared they were on the mend. Even though it was one of the few foods the Forks High cafeteria team got right, she couldn't bring herself to eat the cake.

~~TDP~~

"Do you think that costume is appropriate?" Ba'al asked with a raised eyebrow as he surveyed the obscenely short and tight mini-dress adorning Astarte.

"You look like a common trollop." His words were delivered with a disapproving tone but the movement of his hardening cock against the zipper of his jeans belied that he truthfully found her outfit choice to be quite satisfactory.

"I assure you, that this outfit is most appropriate and will make my task of keeping Emmett under my control that much easier." Astarte returned to the task of attempting to cover her breasts as they threatened to spill from the scrap of material that was her Halloween costume.

"You could have gone as yourself. Long, flowing robes…I would have thought that you'd relish the chance to be comfortable after having to wear such tight clothing all of the time." Not to mention that the robe of a goddess would keep ninety percent of her skin covered.

"What are you, my father?" She mocked. "A flowing robe would not keep Emmett's attention as well as the guise a slutty nurse will." Ba'al rolled his eyes. Why the women of this world insisted on flaunting their bodies astounded him. At least his little Alice had more self-worth. She had intelligently decided to choose more suitable clothing. They would be attending the party as a teen couple from the 1950's. Complete with something called a poodle skirt and greaser hair.

"Besides, he's going as a naughty doctor so we're matching. What are you and the child wearing?" Ba'al chuckled at her thinly veiled contempt for his Alice.

Ba'al motioned to his plain white tee shirt, tucked neatly into blue jeans. "I believe I am something called a greaser and she's a bobby soxer."

"You're joking. That's your costume?" Astarte asked, with a sneer. "How quaint. Well, you and the child enjoy yourself. I'm sure I will." Ba'al watched silently as she flounced out of the room with her nurse's hat affixed to her perfectly coiffed head.

Ba'al rubbed a hand slowly over his tired eyes as the scent of Astarte's rapid departure wafted over his body, reminding him that she would not be at the Cullen's tonight. Instead of attending the party at the Cullen's, she and Emmett would be celebrating with the football team and upperclassmen as Emmett had vehemently fought her attempts to persuade him to attend his younger brother's soiree instead. In the end, it was decided that Emmett was becoming a bit too suspicious by her arguments and his presence could potentially be disastrous to their Master's plans if he chose to pick a fight with his brother.

Ba'al was not looking forward to the party nor was he fond of the very reason for the party. If these children only knew how close they came every twelve months to real monsters that went bump in the night, they wouldn't be in such a hurry to wander around in the darkness. Tonight, a true monster would be walking amongst them and it would be solely up to Ba'al to assist Satan as he traversed the paths between Hell and Earth to observe The Swan and the boy.

~~TDP~~

"Aro!" The slap of his bare feet hitting the rough stone floor echoed loudly as he ran towards his master's booming voice. He knew what was about to be demanded of him and his heart and soul, if he still possessed a soul, which he thought or rather hoped he did, was aching with the knowledge of what his participation in this event meant.

"Sire." His head bowed as he greeted his malevolent host.

"Aro, the next time you keep me waiting I'll amuse myself with thinking of new ways to torture your worthless hide."

"My apologies sire." He kept his eyes lowered so that Satan would not see his fear. So far, his time in Hell had not included torture, as he'd done his best not to draw attention to himself. His new role as Satan's de facto seer had forcibly pushed him directly into his master's sight and he now had a very real fear of punishment being handed down.

Satan's eyes narrowed as he looked down onto the bowed form of his subordinate, his lips curled in pleasure at the smell of fear emanating from Aro. It was good he thought; it was good that Aro understood what could befall him at any moment. Fear served him well with keeping his people in line, as if he needed help. Satan snorted at the absurd thought. "I don't care to hear your insignificant apologies, what has been done for my excursion tonight?"

Aro's eyes darted around the floor, in truth he had been using his time reading over the prophecy trying to find ways to thwart Satan's plans, as of yet he'd found nothing. "Sire, I believe things are prepared as expected."

Satan snorted loudly. "You believe?" Aro's skin crawled at the obvious sarcasm. "Tonight, I make contact with The Swan and my vessel and you believe things are prepared?" The calmness of his Master's voice chilled him to his core.

Aro released a shaky breath, and lifted his head to meet Satan's dark eyes. "Sire, all will be as you desire." Tonight would happen and there was nothing Aro could do to stop it. In the meantime, he would continue to look for a way to help humanity out of the true hell that was coming for them.

~~TDP~~

"Honey, are you sure you don't want me to put some white paint on your face, maybe some dark circles under your eyes?" Edward shook his head at his mother's hopeful voice and tried not to laugh at the pout on her face as she thought of ways to decorate him. For years Esme had all but begged, actually there had been begging, for her children to allow her to go all out on their costumes. Face paint, spiked hair, fake blood…Anything. But to her dismay, Emmett had opted to wear almost exclusively sports costumes and after Edward had grown up enough to wear a true Halloween costume; he'd lost interest in trick-or-treating. When he and Bella came to her about the party, Esme's hopes of finally getting to place a three-inch scar or nasty boil on one of her son's pretty faces were once again kindled only to be quickly dashed.

"Mom, I'm not a vampire." He reminded her while surveying his costume in the mirror, taking note of the alterations to the clothes that Bella had originally chosen. The leather pants had been replaced by black jeans and the satin shirt had been hastily replaced after Emmett had commented, "That 70's Show called and wanted their shirt back", with a plain, black cotton button down. He was quite pleased that after donning the outfit it didn't scream, 'bad boy' but rather to him at least, it more or less just identified him as maybe slightly Goth or perhaps just a boy with little imagination for Halloween costumes. He'd take whatever it was as long as it that the smile stayed on Bella's face.

Hearing his mother deep sigh at his reluctance to allow her to draw on his face, Edward looked to his furry companion, who was currently parked at his feet and rolled his eyes. Kodi had not been immune to his mother and Bella's excitement. The little fur ball had a black cape attached to his collar and was wearing a pair of velvet bat ears on his head.

"Really, mom?" Edward pointed to the puppy that was currently shaking his head vigorously, attempting to dislodge the offending ears. "He looks ridiculous."

"He looks adorable." Esme countered, reaching down to fix the newly skewed headband and began fussing with the cape attached to his neck. "Who's my perfect little vampire?" She cooed as Kodi lifted his big brown eyes to Edward in a silent request for help.

Edward couldn't ignore his little buddie's plea. "Mom, maybe you could define my cheekbones a bit?" He barely had the words out before his mom turned to him with what could only be described as unmitigated joy stamped all over her face.

"Are you sure?" He nodded, reluctantly shooting the dog a look that said 'You owe me one.'

"Oh, honey, thank you!"

Fifteen minutes later Edward exited his room with his face shadowed to within an inch of its life. He'd also relented and allowed her to use some mousse and make his hair even more unruly. He wasn't so sure that his hair needed any messing up, but he had to admit that it smelled nice.

Edward walked down the stairs and followed the sounds of the creaking chains and moaning to the family room entrance. The obligatory cobwebs, complete with plastic spiders were hanging from every corner. Pumpkins were stashed around the room carved by Bella. His mother had him drag his grandmother's punchbowl down from the attic. It now sat center stage on the main table almost overflowing with punch. It tasted terrific but was the color and consistency of snot. Various finger foods that bore frighteningly resemblances to dismembered fingers, eyeballs and other body parts surrounded the snot punch on a large table covered in an orange tablecloth.

His mother and Bella had bonded over the party preparations. While he'd been roped into hanging more crepe paper, peeling more grapes and frosting more pumpkin shaped cookies than he'd ever thought possible, he was delighted to see his mother with an almost permanent smile on her face that matched the one Bella wore. His mother and friend were happy. To Edward that was a huge win and he found that their visible glee was beginning to rub off on him.

"What do you think?" Edward turned towards his mother's voice. She was coming in behind him with yet another platter of Halloween themed food. He peered toward the tray, trying to discern what she was carrying. "Mummy Dogs," Esme said, lowering the platter so he could see the hotdogs wrapped in strips of some kind of pastry.

"You mean pigs in a blanket?"

"I meant Mummy Dogs. Get with the program or get out." She challenged with a raised eyebrow.

Edward laughed at this mother's glare. "Oh, right. I can clearly see that those aren't your run of the mill pigs in a blanket. My mistake." Esme continued to glare at her chortling son as she sat the platter down on the full table. She busied herself with straightening up napkins and such for a moment before turning back towards her son, delighting in the smile that adorned his beautiful face. Without thinking Esme walked over to Edward and placed her hands on his face bringing his eyes to her level. "I'm so glad to see you happy. It's been much too long." Edward lowered his eyes, ashamed for the amount of hurt his mother had endured because of his actions. Her hands tightened on his face, forcing him to hold her gaze. "No, don't hide these beautiful eyes from me. You never have to apologize for experiencing joy. I'm your mother, there's nothing I want more than to see you happy. Okay?"

Edward sighed and nodded. "Okay."

"You are happy aren't you?" Edward couldn't deny that he was. Even Dr. Tanner had remarked on his change in attitude and had been working on trying to get to the bottom of the change. So far all Edward had divulged was very little except to say that he'd made a new friend.

"Yes, Mom." He confirmed.

"Bella is a good person. I'm so happy you are friends. Do you think you two might become more than friends? Maybe a couple?" Edward pulled back at her question, the mirth from before dimming a bit as his past reared its head again. The only relationship he'd ever had was by all accounts a disaster. And despite the progress he'd made with Dr. Tanner, there was still too much old baggage floating around for him to consider bringing another person into his darkness. But he knew that if he were ready it would be Bella he'd want.

"Mom, I don't think that's a good idea."

"What do you mean? It's obvious she adores you and your smile never waivers when she's around."

"That's not the problem. I like Bella very much but you know my history with girlfriends." Esme dropped her hands from Edward's face in frustration.

"Edward, that's not fair. It's not fair to you and it's certainly to fair to Bella. There are a lot of choice words I could use to describe that woman; girlfriend is not one of them!" Esme's mind whirled with all of the names she would and in the privacy of her home, had used to describe that vile woman. Seeing the distress the topic had brought to her son's face, Esme quickly changed her tone. "Okay, I'll leave it alone, for now. But don't wait too long to decide you're ready or you may find yourself having to fight for the chance to call her yours." Esme smiled and gently turned her son towards the hallway that led to a guestroom and en suite bath.

Edward's eyes widened and his mouth hung open at the sight of Bella in her costume. She had accepted Esme's invitation and changed at the Cullen's home rather than driving across town only to turn around and come back. She'd even packed a bag to stay overnight after the party. Esme had decided it made more sense for her to stay since both she and Edward would have to clean up in the morning.

"Hi." Bella's voice faltered a bit as Edward stayed silent. In the dim light of the hallway, she couldn't tell what his expression was; only that he was staring at her and not saying anything. She self-consciously tugged at the hem of her white dress, even though Esme has assured her it was a respectable length. Bella took a deep breath and squared her shoulders and began walking towards the still silent Edward and smiling Esme. As she walked, she could feel the halo that was affixed to her head begin to wobble but refrained from messing with it lest she ruin the beautiful curls Esme had spent the better part of an hour placing all over her head. The perfectly formed ringlets cascaded down her back and framed her face. She'd been almost brought to tears when Esme had allowed her to look in a mirror. Bella had been doing her own hair for her whole life. A wash and quick blow dry was as good as it got. She had no idea her hair could look so pretty. Esme had also applied mascara to her already long lashes, making them appear darker and thicker than normal. A tiny bit of blush and lip gloss was also used to enhance Bella's natural beauty. Bella really liked the final appearance but she found that the attention form Edward's mother was the best part of her makeover.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Bella pursed her lips together, causing the lip gloss to shine a tad bit brighter. Edward blinked slowly and licked his own lips in reaction to her shiny lips. The two teens stood silently staring at one another. One too shy and self-conscious to say anything and the other one caught up in visual overload to form words.

Finally, Esme elbowed her mute son in the ribs, causing him to pitch slightly forward into Bella. Edward's arms shot forward to stop his momentum, landing on Bella's hips. Bella's hands instantly grasped onto his forearms. The couple looked as if to be engaged in a romantic embrace. Their eyes were locked onto each other, both waiting for the other to speak first.

Unable to stand it any longer, Esme cleared her throat, jolting her son out of his Bella induced stupor.

"You look amazing." He uttered simply, barely above a whisper but loud enough for Bella to hear. Instantly, Bella's face broke out into a huge smile and her lovely eyes sparkled under his gaze.

"You look great too." The compliment spilled from her glossed lips.

Esme's happiness over what she was witnessing was almost more than she could contain as she gazed at the beautiful couple. Her heart filled with thoughts of the future, finally able to begin leaving the past behind. Destiny, Esme thought. It was destiny that her family had moved to Forks and put this brown-haired angel in their path, she was the key to everything good that was happening to her family.

The Pure Bird must be the last of the dark and light bloodlines.

She is the key to his unholy plan.


They hugged! Woohoo! Next chapter, the party.

Please consider going over to .com and vote. The ladies over there have worked really hard to keep our fanfic addiction going and they deserve our support. You can find The Devil's Plan in the 'Favorite Drop Everything Fic' Category. *Squee!*

Until next time, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!