Chapter Seven
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Edward shifted Bella into a better position on the hardwood floor, falling back on his haunches when her strange tattoos burned bright white the second he touched her. "Don't freak out, man. It's just glowing letters."
A cackle above created icy shards in his blood, as the glowing tattoos dimmed to a soft gold.
Ignoring the light show from Bella's skin, he prayed all his experiences and training as a paramedic would help him save her. For the first time since he'd seen Bella fly across the room, he noticed the house had fallen quiet. It was the kind of silence that spooked a person more than unexpected bumps in the night.
Edward did his best to ignore the mounting fear that chilled his blood, and the house. His attention was on Bella as he loosened a scarf from around her neck and tossed it behind him. The off-shoulder sweater she wore wasn't tight, but he lifted it up and out of the way, and quickly found her sternum. She had yellowish bruises along her ribs, but the incident had only just occurred. That didn't make sense, but with a second look, he realized a few ribs were likely broken. He started chest compressions, as he took in the rest of her injuries, noticing some blood.
"Come on, Bella," he grunted after the first set, leaning over her. He breathed in her mouth and called out for the others. "James! Shelly!" His phone was in his bag, he needed to call for an ambulance. James usually had enough strength to push small items toward him, but his cousin wasn't answering. "Come on! Bella, if you're fucking hovering over my shoulder as a ghost, I swear I'll come after your nice ass and bring you back!"
He didn't need another life on his conscience.
Before he started on the next set of compressions, Bella's eyes snapped open. She inhaled deeply, seemingly unaware and unseeing. Edward pulled away, whispering her name.
A painful gasp escaped her as her hand grabbed his arm. Her eyes started to water as she coughed, rolling away from him. She cried out in pain, but tried again, and instead, turned toward him and rose to her knees in one fluid movement.
"Hold on," he said, but fumbled in his attempt to help her up by grabbing her arm too hard. She tried to contain another scream, failing and leaning away from him. The moment she was on her feet, Edward noticed the way her right arm hung limp at her side, her left hand grasping her bicep. Her eyes widened as they met his.
"It's dislocated, fuck," he said, reaching for his keys. "Let's get you to the hospital."
"No hospitals. I'll seize from the number of spirits lingering inside it by the time we pull into the parking lot." Bella bent over a bit to catch her breath. He hated hospitals for the same reason—too many ghosts. It was the reason he'd had to give up his career as a paramedic.
"I need to set your shoulder then."
Without a word, she limped toward the doorway leading to the living room, ramming her shoulder against the doorjamb. She screamed and gasped, sliding down the wall until her ass hit the floor. Tears squeezed out from her clenched eyes, as Irina cackled from the floor above them.
"You bitch," Bella spat out, rising her to feet. She was unsteady at first, but headed straight for the stairs that led to a guest room and Alec's office anyway.
Edward caught her as she passed him, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her toward the living room instead. "I don't think so. Not happening."
"Let me go, she's gonna pay for that shit!" She barely struggled in his arms, likely in too much pain to try fighting his hold more.
"Calm down," Edward hissed, trying to handle her gently, considering her body had slammed against the wall. "Let's regroup before we deal with her."
Bella spun until she faced him, her hair swinging around as if it had a life of its own. "For every minute we wait, the longer she has to recover. She'll get stronger, Edward, and that's not good for us."
"Trust me, I get it," he said, leaning toward her and whispering to avoid being overheard. The walls literally had ears. "But the cut on your head opened up again, and you busted a few ribs. I doubt you can do whatever you were trying to do earlier without hurting yourself further."
Bella's eyes narrowed, her lips thinning, but it wasn't long before her face softened. "I know, I know, you're right." She pushed past him and sat gently on the leather ottoman, rubbing her face with her hand. "I'm supposed to be taking a break, that's why I'm housesitting next door, but of course, there are ghosts nearby." She continued to grumble under her breath, too fast for him to catch everything. "Oh my God, I'm half naked!"
Edward rubbed the back of his neck, as she freaked out over her state of undress. In paramedic-mode earlier, he hadn't noticed her round, full breasts, or the sheerness of her bra. His thoughts were on her health, the bruising along one side of her ribs, and the blood on her head.
"I need some shit from my car." She was ranting and angry, moving around him as if nothing happened. He couldn't help but notice her as she adjusted her white sheer bra and pulled her sweater over her breasts. She said something else, finally stopping in front of him. He hadn't heard a word she said.
"Huh?"
Her bottom lip pushed forward, just enough of a pout to make him feel like a shit for perving. "Let's go next door."
"Why are we leaving? I thought you said the longer she has to recover…"
She waved her left hand outward, keeping the other one tucked against her chest.
"There's ways to slow her down. If we turn off the power to the house and keep your buddies out," she paused, looking up. "The bitch can't drain energy from the house or them. That buys us time." The lighting fixture above them rattled, forcing them to back away from under it. Footsteps ran across the room on the floor above, fading away. Bella flicked her fingers out from under her chin at the ceiling in a rude gesture and walked toward the back of the house.
Left speechless for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour, Edward followed her to a panel in the laundry room. Together, they figured out how to power down the house, except for the security system. Ten minutes later, each of them carrying one of Edward's bags despite his protests, walked over to the Parkers' home.
"We need some alcohol before we talk about what just happened and so much more." Bella tossed her scarf on the couch, leaving his bag on the floor. "Follow me."
Confused and in the need for answers, Edward removed his leather jacket and followed Bella into a media room across from an elegant dining room. A fully stocked bar sat in the corner, a pool table, and massive screen made it the best man cave ever.
Bella went straight for the top-shelf vodka and turned two shot glasses onto the teak and marble bar counter top.
Taking a seat on one of the stools, he watched as she poured each of them a glass and some in her mouth straight from the bottle. He had about a hundred questions, but decided to start with an easy one. "Have you housesat here before?"
Bella found some lemons in the small fridge under the bar and started to slice them. "No. I have for Alec and Tanya. She's in my yoga class, that's who Garrett and Kate got my number from." She shrugged and held up her glass, waiting for him to do the same. "Cheers to one hell of a night." Their glasses clinked and they threw back the vodka. Edward couldn't believe how smooth it went down. It even tasted expensive. He mimicked Bella as she sucked on a lemon and poured herself another.
Edward caught the glint of metal in her tongue and tried not to think about what it would feel like on his skin. They had to talk, so he had to push his libido down and away—too much had happened. Answers to his questions were what he needed, not sex.
For now, he thought.
"Why don't we play twenty questions?" Bella circled the bar and sat beside him. "Let's start with the basics. Are you single?"
Edward snorted and rolled his eyes, pleased that she decided to ask him that first. "Yes, but not by choice. It's fucking hard to have a relationship when I have three spirits following my every move."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Single here, too. You do know you can turn it off, right?"
Did she mean their "I see dead people" gift? "How do I do that?"
She grabbed the bottle of vodka and shook it, pouring them another shot each. "Get drunk, or at least a decent buzz, and you can't see or hear them. Alcohol dulls our senses. They're most likely still there, but if you're tipsy enough, you don't care that they're watching you fuck someone."
Edward choked on his next shot, deciding to take the booze away from her, and led her toward the dark brown sectional in front of the screen. "As much as I understand your need to dull it right now, we need our extra senses to deal with Irina."
"Fine, but all bets are off after she's gone." She plopped down on the couch and grimaced, clutching her side. "Especially after what I learned tonight," she added.
What did she mean by that? "Explain what you mean, and what the hell happened over there?"
"I don't even know where to start," she said softly, resting the back of her head on the couch. She looked at him and touched his cheek. "How long have you been like this?" She was stalling, but he didn't call her on it.
"About five years, since a car accident where I was dead for about three minutes, but my uncle revived me."
"Is this uncle, James' father?"
Carlisle Cullen was James' father, and Edward owed him his life. "How did you know that?"
She blew out a breath and averted her gaze. "I get like an impression when any spirit is nearby, but I also get them from humans if they've experienced something like what happened to you."
His confusion seemed normal around this woman. "Why? Is that something that will happen to me? How can you stand it? You wouldn't be able to go anywhere."
She laughed, but winced and clutched her side again. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh, but you really sound like a little boy wanting to know all the answers right this second."
Edward chuckled and drew an imaginary halo over his head. "You can't blame me after what I saw tonight."
"Yeah," she whispered. "Okay, sometimes when a person nearly dies, or is revived like you were, it sort of leaves you wide open to everything around you. For me, I get an impression. It's sort of like the whole 'life flashes before your eyes' kind of thing, but for someone else. It's detailed, but fast and I don't understand everything I see. It takes time to interpret the images I do get. Sometimes, I only get bits and pieces, or I get the whole thing." She let out a small sob suddenly, wrapping her arms over her middle. "Most of the time, I feel what they did, too."
She was crying, and Edward had no idea how to handle it. Unsure if she'd welcome his touch, he walked to the bar and poured her another drink. Whatever happened with Irina next door, between the pain and what she'd seen of his life and Jane's, she deserved to get a little drunk.
She sipped the shot, seemingly unsure if she should drink it. They did need to take care of the vengeful ghost next door. It was best to do it with a clear head.
"How long have you been like this, Bella?" he asked, checking the cut on her forehead. The bleeding had stopped, but the yellowish bruising around it indicated it was at least a week old, similar to the older bruises on her ribs. He wondered if a ghost throwing her around was normal for her.
"Since as long as I could remember." Her hands started to rub her arms. "I'm cold."
He lifted his arm and waited to see if she would take his invitation. She rested her head on his chest and softly sighed. He put his arm around her, grabbed a throw blanket from a nearby cushion, and placed it over her. "Thank you." She said nothing for a bit. "I was left inside a trash can outside the ER doors of a hospital shortly after I was born. The records stated that I wasn't even a week old. Someone just left me there."
He gave her a gentle squeeze, just to let her know he was listening, but inside, his blood lost the chill and started to burn in anger. Who does that to a baby?
"I was placed in a home pretty quickly, taken in by the cop working on my case," she said, grinning a little. "I was pretty cute."
Edward focused on her full lips and small nose, trying to imagine Baby Bella. "I have no doubt about it."
"Anyway, I was a very quiet baby. The couple that fostered me thought something was wrong, but all the tests showed I was healthy, just quiet. It wasn't long before Charlie and Renee adopted me. Only, after a couple of years, Renee decided she wasn't meant to be a mother and left us."
"I'm sorry, Bella."
She whispered a soft thank you, stopping long enough to snuggle closer. "It's been so long since I told anyone about my past."
Edward offered her a half-assed smile, understanding her a little more. Most would have run away screaming if they knew he could talk to spirits. His ex-girlfriend sure ran and never looked back.
Unaware of his inner turmoil, Bella continued in a softer tone, yawning a few times. "Let's see, by then, I was about two and a half. Charlie tried so hard to raise me on his own, and he was doing okay, but he was a cop and he worked a lot of late shifts. One day, according the reports, I was found down the street while he was still in bed one early morning."
"You were taken from him."
"He fought the system, got a different job as a security guard with better hours, and he was able to get me back. I wasn't doing well in other homes anyway. Then he was shot and killed while on the job when I was five."
"Jesus."
"It gets worse," she said, looking up at him. "You sure you want to know?"
To him, leaving a child in a trashcan was the worst, but he had a feeling Bella knew worse well. "I want to know everything you're willing to share."
She'd want the same from him and he had no issue with it. He hadn't met someone he'd wanted to talk to in a long time. It could be a good thing for them.
"We will, but first, we have to get rid of Irina." She looked toward a window that faced the side of the Williams' house. The lights were off, but there was some kind of glow emanating from every window. "She's gaining strength."
"Maybe we should call for some help with this one," he said, helping her up from the couch. He had a demonologist on call.
"No need." Bella dismissed his words with a wave. "She's like a level three in my book."
Level three was still high on his scale of one to five. "In mine, she's a level five and that's my max. What's yours?"
"Uh, one to ten," she said, grimacing again. "She'll probably get to a five by the time we're done with her."
Fucking hell, if Irina was barely a blimp on her radar, how much worse could it get? It was a stupid question as he was about to find out.
