Author's Notes: Hi, readers. Here's chapter four of "From the Shadows." This chapter has lots of Edward/Bella. It is likely I will be introducing the rest of the Cullens and other characters in the next one. Stay tuned for chapter five.

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Chapter 4: Coming Inside

Edward pulled his car into the Swan residence's driveway thirty-five minutes later. He turned off the engine and looked toward the second-floor window. He could see Bella running her fingers through her hair in the second-floor window. He observed her moving away from it. He moved his hands to the sides of the steering wheel.

He ran his tongue all over the inside of his mouth. He recalled overhearing men complaining about women taking so long to get ready in recent times. He understood why because women were expected to look good in public. He knew that bolstered their image of being prim and proper. At the same time, he saw some women went overboard when it came to makeup. He did not like it when they looked like clowns.

His thoughts shifted to modesty. He agreed dressing modestly was good, but he did not like how some people saw it was meant for only women. He believed men should dress that way as well. He hated it when he saw men looking like slobs while the women were dressed well. He did not agree that having women cover up prevented sexual abuse and rape. He was aware both were about exerting power over the victims and that the culprits didn't give a flip about what they were wearing.

He started thinking about Bella. He believed she looked good in anything she wore, especially when it came to dresses. He liked how they came down to her knees, though he did not mind if her thighs showed some. He had desired her the second he met her. However, he did not give in because of his fear of losing control. He was grateful to her for helping him stay that way during all the times they made love, especially this morning.

Edward shook his thoughts from his head. He decided he wanted to go inside Bella's house for a few minutes. He undid his seatbelt and got out. He approached the front door. He rang the doorbell twice. He ran both of his hands through his hair three times before clicking his tongue twice. The door unlocked and opened with a slight squeak. Bella stood before him, causing her to smile in a big way.

"Hey, Edward," Bella greeted and kissed her boyfriend's cheek. "I did not expect you to come to the front door."

"Well, I thought I'd come in for a few minutes," Edward said honestly. "Is that okay?"

"Sure," Bella said, stepping aside and putting her hand out. "Come on in."

"Thanks," Edward whispered while coming to the center of the living room. He looked around as she closed the door. "I remember the first time I set foot in this house. I was amazed at how small it was."

"Well, it was meant for a married couple and their only kid," Bella replied as she came to his side. "After my parents divorced, Dad didn't have the heart to leave, especially with my other grandparents suffering from poor health."

"I can't blame him," Edward commented in much sympathy. "He loved your mother, but he did not want to leave them. If they had been in better health, perhaps he could have gone after Renee."

"Maybe," Bella said, giving a shrug. "You never know with people, huh?"

He shook his head. "No, you don't. Some grown kids leave their parents in nursing homes because they can't handle them any longer or have their own families to take care of them. They come visit them as much as they can."

"Other grown kids put their parents in nursing homes and never come visit them. They may be just really selfish or were treated badly by them. It is likely equal on both sides," Bella explained.

"I have read stories of nursing home employees who listened to the stories of residents about their lives as parents and sympathized with them. That is until they learned these residents treated their own kids like trash. Then they realized why no one visited them," Edward pointed out.

"It astounds me how parents can treat their kids so badly, yet they demand respect from them," Bella grumbled with a shake of her head.

"That was common in my days as a human. Many kids grew up respecting their parents, but it was not out of love. It was out of fear," Edward muttered, shuddering loudly. "I did not see my father much, but he never treated my mother or me badly. He did love us a lot."

She smiled. "That is good."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. He kept his lips there for a minute before pulling away. He ran his fingers through her hair before inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly.

"Edward, tell me more about the Volturi," she suggested.

"All right," he responded and licked his lips. "Aro, Marcus, and Caius are the leaders of the Volturi. Aro is the main leader. He has the ability to read every thought a person has with a single touch. Marcus can sense the intensity of relationships. Caius has no known power, but he is very ambitious."

"What about other members?" Bella wondered.

"Alec, Jane, Demetri, and Felix make up the guard. Alec can cut all of someone's senses with a black mist. He can target multiple people at the same time. Jane can create the illusion of pain by staring at someone. She can only focus on one target at a time. She and Alec are twins. They are the main reason why the Volturi have been so successful in maintaining order in our world. Felix doesn't have any special ability, but he is immensely strong. Demetri can track anyone in the world as long as he has had contact with them before," Edward explained.

"Have you ever gone to see them?" Bella wondered.

"I do every now and then. Aro always asks me to join him. He finds my gift very valuable. He also desires to have Alice in his ranks. He asks her to join every time he sees her. He likes to collect gifted vampires," Edward responded in a slow yet steady way.

"If Aro likes collecting gifted vampires, then why doesn't he send his guard to destroy your family?" Bella asked confusingly.

"Believe it or not, Aro is close friends with Carlisle. He won't jeopardize their friendship just so he can have Alice and me. However, he'd come after us if we committed a crime of some sort. One unforgivable crime is creating immortal children. These are infants and toddlers who were turned into vampires,"

"Baby vampires?" Bella asked surprisingly.

"Yes. These immortal children were so beautiful that anyone would fall in love with them once they saw them. They couldn't be controlled, so they had to be destroyed. They could destroy entire villages in a single temper tantrum. The Volturi have had to destroy entire covens to kill one single immortal child," Edward whispered in seriousness.

Bella's eyes went wide with fear. She couldn't understand why vampires would put their covens at risk by creating immortal children. Perhaps it was the desire to have young children they could love and cherish. She didn't think it was worth the risk to do something like that.

"Do you remember when I told you about the Denali sisters named Tanya, Kate, and Irina?" he asked.

"Yes, I do. Why?" she answered, looking nervous.

"Their adoptive mother, Sasha, created an immortal child, Vasilii. She tried hard to keep him secret, but the Volturi became aware of him. They were both destroyed with Tanya, Kate, and Irina being forced to watch. The sisters were spared because they didn't know their mother had done the unthinkable. The incident made them purists to vampire law. Tanya mentioned Sasha and Vasilii to us during the time we stayed with them. She and her sisters rarely ever talk about them," Edward commented.

"I could never blame them for that," Bella replied, sighing in sadness. She shuddered in some fear. "We must not forget Victoria is going to come back for me someday. You told me vampires become vengeful when they lose their mates."

He ran his hand over her hair, making shushing sounds. "You need not worry, Bella. We'll protect you from her. Once Alice sees her, we'll be ready to fight her."

She felt a tear slide down her cheek. "I wish I could protect you the way you protect me."

"You already protect us by keeping our secret. That's the best thing anyone has done for us," Edward said lovingly.

"I can see that. Still, I wish—" Bella started, a sob rising in her throat.

"I understand," Edward responded and held out his arms. He waved toward himself twice. "Come here."

Bella nodded at him. "Okay."

Bella approached her boyfriend in which he wrapped his arms around her. He hugged her, though he took great care not to do it too tightly. She slipped hers around his waist. He rocked her from side to side. He did this for thirty seconds before stopping. They released their hold on each other.

"Is it possible that Alice experienced visions in nightmares before she became a vampire?" Bella wondered.

"I think she did. I've read about nightmares foretelling the future," Edward answered honestly.

"I do not think I would want to be able to tell the future," Bella said, shaking her head.

"I've tried to encourage Alice to research her life history, but she's not interested," Edward said while shrugging. "It's weird. I thought she'd want to know what happened in her past life. I mean, she doesn't remember anything from it. The venom robbed her of her memory. The first vision she had after her transformation was of Jasper and a happy future with our family."

"How can some vampires be robbed of their memory but not others when they are turned?" Bella asked in confusion.

"I don't know. Even the Volturi are clueless at this mystery," Edward said and pressed his lips together.

"Has Alice ever used visions to predict what move you would make during a game?" Bella asked, smirking somewhat.

Edward chuckled to himself. "Yes, she has. She has gotten visions of people becoming the victims of pranks and warned them."

"I am sure they laughed at her and fell for the prank," Bella suggested.

"Oh, both have happened," Edward commented while nodding in a slow manner. "Those people were very embarrassed."

"I see," Bella said. "What do you say we head off to school?"

"I say let's do it," Edward responded eagerly.

Bella laughed. "Great. Let me go get my backpack."

Bella headed upstairs as she sang nonsense. She returned with her backpack over her shoulder a minute later. Edward headed to the door, opening it with a loud squeak. She went to it to lock it. She walked outside, looking over her shoulder as he came out and closed it behind her. She went to the passenger's side of his car, as did he with the driver's side. They got in, and she tossed her backpack in the backseat.

"Remember to always put your seatbelt on," she said and fastened her seatbelt.

"Of course," he agreed and put his seatbelt on. "I need to pass for being human."

She giggled. "Good."

Edward started up the engine and pulled out of the driveway. He began driving down the street and moved his hands to the sides of the wheel. Bella glanced at him with raised eyebrows.

"Edward, have you ever encountered idiotic drivers?" she asked in much curiosity.

"Yes, I have," he admitted. "You?"

"Yep," Bella commented, rolling her eyes. "People just do not know how to drive these days." She scoffed loudly. "They think they own the road."

"It has been that way since the first cars came about," Edward said softy. He looked in his rearview mirror to see a van coming up on his bumper. He groaned irritatingly when the driver honked his horn. "Forget it, buddy. I will not go over the twenty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit on this road."

"I wonder why he is in such a hurry," Bella whispered as she looked out the back window at the van.

"I don't know. I don't care," Edward declared. He stopped at an intersection. He looked both ways. He gritted his teeth when the driver gave two honks. He glared at him in the rearview mirror. "I'm just looking both ways, you bastard!" He emitted a frustrated hiss. "Damn. Have some patience."

"I'd like to get out of his car and give him a piece of my mind," Bella suggested while looking ahead.

He hissed. "You could. Unfortunately, he might pull a gun on you and shoot you."

She tensed a bit. "You got a good point."

Edward went ahead while clearing his throat. The driver turned right and shot him a dirty look. Edward looked at the rearview mirror and shook his head rapidly.

"Good riddance, you jerk!" Edward shouted in determination. "I hope we do not encounter any slow drivers on the way to school."

"Me neither," Bella agreed and touched the back of her neck with both hands. "Everyone knows impatience is among the worst things in the world. Some people have it more than others do."

"Mm-hmm," Edward answered while moving his hands to the top of the wheel. He slowed down his speed somewhat as a jogger went down the side of the road.