AN: Your eyes are not deceiving you. This an update.
In the last chapter Edward and Bella helped send Marcus, the ghost of a serial killer get a one-way ticket to hell. His victims, along with his grandson's (Causis was also a serial killer Bella stopped before Edward entered her life) crossed over. We've found out Jasper, a friend of Edward who is dating his cousin Alice was immortal and had known all along who and what Edward was. After defeating Marcus and his crazy dead wife, the group, and detective are ready to leave, but need to be careful because Heidi's spirit refused to crossover. She's granddaughter to Marcus and Giana. Edward carried an exhausted and injured Bella to his truck, heading to see his uncle for medical help. He also told Jasper he wasn't ready to talk to him about everything he kept from him, and threatened to tell Alice the truth about him if he didn't do it first.
The Haunting of Bella Swan
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Edward raced toward his uncle and aunt's home, miles outside of the city. The sound of Bella's shallow breathing kept him from freaking out and focusing instead on getting her the help she needed.
Hospitals would prove more dangerous and urgent care centers would ask too many questions before they even helped her. The logical choice was his uncle, but he needed to warn him.
He dialed up the number, putting his cell phone on speaker to keep his attention on the road and the woman beside him. "Bella, talk to me, love."
Her eyes remained closed, but a soft moan indicated she was still there with him. It was clear she was drained from the experience on the Lexington property. How much it affected her health he wasn't sure but needed to get some food and fluids in her.
"Hello?" someone answered, though it didn't sound like his uncle. The woman on it the phone was not his aunt either.
"Carlisle?" Had he dialed the wrong number?
"He's unavailable at the moment. Can I take a message?" Since when had his uncle had an assistant answering his personal cell phone and at two in the morning?
"No, you cannot take a message. This is his nephew Edward, put him on the line now." He wasn't going to beat around the bush, Bella was in trouble.
There was a muffled conversation before his uncle came to the phone. "Edward, this isn't a good time. Can it wait until morning?"
"I'm not sure, considering that wasn't my aunt answering the phone." The accusation dripped from the venom in his voice, he'd known things between them hadn't been the best since James died, but for his uncle to cheat…it was unthinkable.
"It's not what you think," Edward heard his uncle sigh. "What is it?"
"A friend of mine has been hurt—"
"Take her to the hospital, son."
Edward gritted his teeth at the interruption. "A hospital is out of the question."
"If something is wrong with this person…"
"We can't go to a hospital right now!" Edward was panting in anger, his vision clouding on the fringes.
"I don't understand…"
"We see dead people, all right!" Edward felt his own exhaustion with every mile. He should've had someone drive them. "It would make us feel worse."
"What's your ETA?" was his uncle's immediate response.
"Five minutes."
.
.
.
Bella groaned, the splitting headaches made her mouth water…not in a good way. "Edward," she murmured, reaching for him. Had they drunk themselves into a numb stupor the night before? The room seemed to move, not helping the churning in her stomach. "Edward." Having no answer from him, she opened one of her eyes with caution, then the other snapped open.
Everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours flashed before her eyes, as a large tree loomed ahead and they were heading straight for it.
She grabbed the wheel, pushing it away from her and screaming as bright headlights blinded her. The sound of someone honking at them followed and passed them. The truck was barreling down the road at full speed. Edward was unconscious and his big foot lay on the gas pedal. She yanked the steering wheel back toward her and managed to get to the right side of the road. Keeping her gaze on the road, ignoring the pain in her head, she shook Edward hard.
He groaned.
She cried out in relief. He was alive.
"Wake up, baby!" she hissed, pressing buttons on his dashboard to turn up the radio. Anything to get him to wake the fuck up before she lost control again.
Justin Bieber blasted through the old speakers, instantly waking up Edward. "What the fuck is this shit!" His hands grabbed a hold of the steering wheel, confusion etched across his handsome face. "What's going on?"
"You fell asleep or passed out," Bella said, sitting back in her seat, her chest hurt from nearly going into a panic attack. "We almost hit a tree, good job, babe." She tried to put some levity in her voice, but it didn't sound too convincing.
Edward's brow furrowed, and hand rubbed hard over his face. He looked at her and away, his mouth opening and closing a few times. "Uh, who are you and what are you doing in my truck? And where are we going?" He quickly snapped off the stereo, ending the excessively loud torture.
Edward felt a little bad at the horror-filled look on her face, but this was how they worked. Laugh it up when times are tough, though he may have gone too far.
She slapped his shoulder several times, having read that he was joking in his eyes. "I can't believe you made me think you forgot all about me for a few seconds."
"Sorry, stop slapping me, woman, I'm driving." He grinned when she huffed and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring out the windshield. "At least that near-death experience snapped us out of it. What the hell was that?"
"My mind needed a reboot, what's your excuse?"
Edward saw the way her lips twitched as if she wanted to smile. They were so fucking weird, to go through everything they'd been through, to teasing each other about natural reactions to their exhaustion. It was easier to laugh than to focus on how awful they felt. Every inch of his skin felt too tight, his bones hurt, his muscles seemed useless. He had all the flu symptoms, minus the stuffy/runny nose, but about twenty times worse.
Bella lay her head on his shoulder. "You're really weird."
Edward looked at Bella as he pulled into his uncle's neighborhood. "Right back at you, babe." She smiled but winced, it probably hurt. He sure didn't like the pain radiating down the arm he phased several times in the last couple of hours. If it was that bad for him, he can't imagine Bella feeling any better since she had phased her entire body at least once.
She even dissipated into nothing for a few seconds.
That would haunt him for a while.
"I'm bleeding," Bella moaned, holding her head. "My healing ability is not working."
"Jasper warned me that you'd be too drained to heal as usual."
Bella's eyes widened at the large house Edward stopped in front of, her mouth dropping open. "Uh, this is bigger than Tanya and Alec's and Kate and Garrett's place combined."
"In this life, my family is loaded."
She looked confused as fuck, considering he sure didn't look like he came from money. If it wasn't for the blood dripping down her forehead, Edward would take the time to answer her unspoken questions.
"Later?"
She nodded in response, waiting for him to come around the truck to help her out. He had her arm wrapped around his shoulders when he heard his aunt and uncle running toward them. There was an unfamiliar car in the driveway, Edward and Bella didn't need an audience.
"Whoever your guests are, they need to go." Edward stared his uncle, who avoided his eyes.
Carlisle nodded. "They're packing up as we speak, let's get you two inside."
Bella managed to lift her head from Edward's shoulder, her eyes fluttering closed from the intrusion of light as they entered the house. That shit hurt her head more. "Packing?"
Edward watched as two men and a woman stepped out of the living room, one of them holding up a large video camera.
"What the hell is going on here?" he asked, putting his hand over the lens. "Get that shit out of our faces."
They tried to protest, but Carlisle shook his head at them. "Not now Renata."
"Well, I know we haven't talked in a while, Edward." Esme fidgeted as she led them to the dining room where his uncle set up a mini-triage center. He lay Bella on the table, grateful his aunt brought something soft for Bella's head. "Your uncle and I think the house is haunted and they're here to help."
Bella started to giggle, then laugh so hard tears sprung to her eyes. "You've got to be shitting me."
Carlisle and Esme looked at Edward for answers, having no idea who Bella was yet. He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced as she continued to chuckle. "Meet my girlfriend Bella."
Bella smiled widely, attempting to hold out her hand, but her arm fell limply to her side. She pouted. "Hi, I'm the asshole that's probably going to get your nephew killed unless I put a stop to a curse." She held up a finger, grabbed the edge of the table and vomited at their feet.
Edward groaned as his uncle and aunt's guests entered the room. He helped to keep Bella from falling off the table, holding her hair back.
Perfect first impression.
AN: I'll try to update something again this week, if not early next week. Thanksgiving and shopping is ahead for me *sobs*
